by Rachel Wells
Nana seemed to be slumped in her chair at Mandy’s left, her eyes open in small slits showed a dull, glassiness that Mandy had never seen in them before and scared Mandy almost more than the potential effects of the spell that had just been completed. Mandy’s head jerked back to her right just in time to see Lucas raise his arms above his head, laughing sinisterly, and looking in awe at the dark shadows dancing around the three of them.
Mandy almost couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The shadows were about waist high and were curled in upon themselves in a deformed way. They were emitting a hissing noise and moving grotesquely about the circle emitting a low hissing noise. Mandy knew at once that they were the dark demons Lucas had called upon. They seemed to be multiplying before Mandy’s very eyes until the room seemed to be filled from wall to wall, corner to corner, with the dark creatures, writhing and dancing, frolicking with glee. To Mandy’s horror she realized there was no way out. Nana had been rendered helpless and therefore useless to Mandy and Mandy had no idea how to use her own abilities to combat such darkness. The only thing that seemed to be in Mandy’s favor was the fact that Lucas seemed to be sufficiently distracted between his new found abilities and the creatures who seemed eager to do his bidding. He moved one hand in front of him, shooting an arc of lightening from his fingertips, bouncing from the ceiling back down amid the group of shadow demons. This only added to the chaos.
Mandy was vaguely aware of hearing a shattering sound behind her, but under the cacophony of raucous noise from the demons and Lucas it was muffled and she couldn’t even be sure she heard anything at all. Warily she turned around to find the window on the opposite wall was shattered. Before she could react she saw a hand grasp the windowsill and following that Steve’s face appeared. Mandy gasped as Steve raised a finger to his lips to tell her to keep silent. It was all she could do to keep on her feet, as the shock made her feel as if she would faint.
As happy as she was to see Steve, it was also horrifying. There was no way Steve could know what he was walking into and what or who he was up against. As badly as Mandy wanted to get out from this nightmare unhurt, even more her one hope was that no one else would be hurt because of her. It seemed only too likely that this would be Steve’s fate.
Steve dropped catlike to the ground from the window, silently landing on the balls of his feet. Mandy crouched at Nana’s side, removing her gag and frantically working to untie the binds that held her to the chair. Completing this task, she watched in shock as Steve turned back towards the window, leaning his torso out. Was he leaving, now that he certainly must have glimpsed the awfulness that was going on inside the house? Mandy’s heart sunk but she couldn’t blame him. If he got out now, maybe he could make it.
Mandy thought her eyes would fall out of her head as she watched Steve hoist Ally up in the window and drop her silently to the ground. Mandy shook her head as reality hit her. Her two best friends had come to rescue her and there was no way out. Ally waved a little wave at Mandy, smiling in spite of all the swirling blackness and noise.
“Get out!” Mandy mouthed at Lucas and Ally. “Go!”
“No!” Lucas mouthed back at Mandy, and Ally now held a finger to her mouth silencing her. Mandy couldn’t imagine what the two of them thought they were going to be able to accomplish. They surely didn’t realize that the swirling shadows were demons and that Lucas was now probably capable of unthinkable acts.
Mandy’s hope was suddenly buoyed by the fact that she saw Steve carrying a crowbar tight next to his side. He must have found Lucas’s wherever he had dropped it earlier. Ally followed behind him as they made their way along the wall towards where Lucas was providing the demons with a light display from his fingertips. Mandy could barely stand to watch but she felt as there was nothing else she could do for them. Nana appeared to be in shock and Mandy didn’t want to move away from her side, even if only for a minute.
The shadowy crowd grew more rowdy and the swirling picked up momentum. Although Steve and Ally had been careful to stay on the outskirts of the demons, the demons were not mindful of where they flung their twisted bodies. Without warning a group of them bumped into Ally, pushing her into Steve, who was sent flying into a dusty end table, which consequently made a horribly loud grating sound as it grinded across the wooden floorboards. Steve stifled a groan and righted himself, but the room was silent and he knew at the same time as Mandy that it was too late. Their eyes locked in silent horror for a split second before the rumbling voice of Lucas voided the quiet.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” Lucas asked, sarcasm dripping off his words. “Have you come to join us? Mandy didn’t tell me she invited you. Welcome to the dark side, son.”
Mandy’s eyes were wide as she crouched by her grandmother. Wanting more than anything to bury her head in her grandmother’s shoulder she threw Steve a desperate look, imploring him to be careful with her eyes. Steve briefly looked at her almost apologetically, and then turned his focus quickly back to Lucas. Before Mandy’s brain could register what was happening, Lucas was a blur, moving across the room with the crowbar raised above his head, rushing at Lucas with every intention of smashing his skull in.
The shadow demons long disgusting fingers clawed at Steve as he ran past and clung to his clothing, slowing him in his charge. Hideous high pitched laughter flowed from their cruel and gaping mouths as more and more of them clung to his body, gripping his legs, holding fiercely to his neck, dangling from the back of his shirt, clawing at his face. They appeared wispy, smoke-like, but Mandy knew as Steve slowed and finally was stopped by the weight and pull of the demons that they must have sustenance.
They swarmed him now, like bees attacking an invader to their hive. The shadows covered him until Mandy could no longer see Steve. Mandy tore her gaze away from the grizzly scene to where Ally had been standing behind Steve, and realized she was no longer there but had backed up onto the wall behind and was standing flattened as possible against it, fear and anguish in her eyes.
“Enough!” roared Lucas. As quickly as it had happened, the demons relented, flinging themselves off of Steve but leaving little space between themselves and him. He was circled by the shadowy creatures from hell. His shirt was hanging in shreds on him, there were little trickles of blood on his face and arms. He no longer had the crowbar. Mandy caught sight of three demons in the back of the crowd fighting over who would get the weapon, tugging it back and forth between themselves. Mandy forced her gaze back to Lucas and Steve. Maybe Lucas knew he had gone too far this time, maybe he still had a heart. After all, he had made the demons stop their attack on Steve. Mandy held her breath, waiting for something, anything to happen next. Let him go, let him go, Mandy urged Lucas in her mind.
“You ok, little buddy?” Lucas asked Steve, sounding syrupy sweet.
Clearly Steve was taken aback by Lucas’s switch in demeanor. Silently he nodded at Lucas, unsure of what was expected of him.
“Good,” Lucas said, patting Steve on the back in a brotherly fashion. “I was worried my friends here were going to do you in.” Suddenly Lucas took a few steps back away from Steve in a move that was so fast it blurred and could only be magic. “You see, I wanted that pleasure all to myself!” Lucas howled, laughing excitedly at the thought. He held his hands out in front of him and a brilliant bright light shot out from Lucas’s fingertips, striking Steve full-on in the chest. Steve collapsed face first into the floor. Lucas’s laughter raged as the lightening continued on into Steve’s body, causing Steve to twitch in violent lunges on wooden floor. The shadow demons began dancing even more vigorously than before; the crazed swarm of their dark bodies soon had completely obscured Steve’s body from Mandy’s view.
Noise was pulsating against Mandy’s eardrums. Something shrill and awful rang through the room and she realized her mouth was open and she was screaming. She felt something grab at her arm and assuming it was the shadow demons she lurched her arm up and away, screaming with more force than before. L
ooking down to see what had tried to grab ahold of her, she saw her Nana looking up at her. Although they were wide open with fear, the light was back in her green eyes, making them look more like emeralds than ever before. “Hush, child!” Nana hissed at Mandy.
Tears were dripping uncontrollably down Mandy’s cheeks and she felt as if she was gasping for breath, but she tried to do as she was told and choke back the remaining screams. “But, Nana…Steve,” Mandy sputtered out.
“I know, but you must focus on the task at hand if you want to help Steve,” Nana whispered. “Grab that glass ball at my feet.”
Mandy did as she was told and held it out towards her grandmother. “Smash it!” Nana instructed. Mandy looked at Nana with questions in her tear glazed eyes. “Now! No time to waste!”
Mandy hesitated a split second and then hauled the globe up in the air and down as forcefully as she could muster. The glass hit the wooden floor and exploded into a million tiny pieces, crashing and tinkling at once, water spilling out and leaving a dark stain on the wood. The startling noise of the breaking glass commanded silence from Lucas and the demons, and the motion of the swarming bodies stopped all at once. Everyone stared at Mandy and Nana.
Mandy looked down at Nana wondering what good smashing the globe would do. As if Nana could read Mandy’s mind, she simply said quietly, “Wait.” Instantly, Mandy felt a soft and warm breeze swirl around her feet where the broken shards of glass lay in the spilt water. The breeze was balmy, and had the same quality as one you might find at a beach on a sunny day. It continued to rise up, Mandy could feel its climb as it wrapped itself around her body, engulfing her in invisible sunshine. Warmer and warmer it grew, until as quickly as it had appeared, it left Mandy’s side and erupted into a blinding light. Mandy shielded her eyes against it. A dark shape appeared in the middle of the light growing bigger and blocking out the light. Mandy watched in shock as the shape took on the shape of a person, looking more womanly by the second. Mandy’s hands flew to her mouth to cover a gasp as the shape finalized and she recognized the woman as Mary Nasson.
Mary looked exactly the same as she had appeared to Mandy in her dreams. She was fully formed and human looking, but at the same time had an unnerving sheerness to her. Her feet hovered a few inches above the ground. “Darkness into light!” Mary’s ghost commanded. The little flecks of light that were surrounding her suddenly burst forth and filled the room, consuming the shadow demons, their agonizing wails and shrieks cut off abruptly. The room was eerily silent and bright. Mandy was able to see Steve again, he was lying lifelessly on the floor, his limbs twisted at weird angles against the hard and unyielding floor. Mandy struggled to hold herself together. Lucas was left standing alone now that his dark demons had been sucked away. He looked at once terrified and defiant. Mary’s ghost floated slowly toward Lucas.
“Why?” Mary asked.
“I don’t answer to you, or anyone, for that matter,” Lucas said, lifting his chin smugly.
“Oh no?” Mary whispered, breezing up against him coolly.
“No!” Lucas declared.
“Let me tell you a little story, boy. One time, a long time ago, I had a family…a husband, a sister, a body, a life! And it was sucked from me, sucked from me on a whim!” Mary’s voice climbed up a few octaves, finally building into a shriek, the shriek of a banshee. The temperature in the room dropped ten degrees, and Mandy stared in a kind of awe filled horror as Lucas took a step backward, his face paling and his eyes growing wide in fear as the banshee Mary came nose to nose with Lucas and the light suddenly evaporated from the room, a heavy darkness descending into the little house.
Mandy couldn’t see a thing around her anymore, but she felt Nana’s hand on her arm, her fingers encircling it apprehensively. She couldn’t see, but she could hear. In an otherworldly shrill voice, Mary asked, “You ok, little buddy?” Mandy gulped, as if the darkness hanging in the room seemed to be forcing its way into her body, leaving her with a nervous knot in her stomach. Lucas didn’t answer to Mandy’s knowledge. “Little buddy?” the singsong sarcastic voice of Mary’s voice repeated. Goosebumps shot up Mandy’s arms. “I hope I can have the pleasure of sucking the life out of you,” the taunting voice shrieked.
Mary’s shrieking suggestion was joined by another shriek, a shriek of fear that could only be coming from Lucas. It was short and high pitched, like a woman’s might be, and was followed by two more bursts of the same type and then a number of heavy, fast moving thuds on the floor. Mandy felt the breeze as Lucas rushed by her and Nana, running towards the door as Mary’s ghost tailed him, laughing gleefully. The door to the little house was suddenly flung open, flooding the room with moonlight.
Mandy stood frozen in fear to the spot she had been standing in, looking at the open door in bewilderment. Her hand flew to her mouth as if it could stifle all the horrible feelings and anxieties welling up in her gut along with the sob that was working its way out of her mouth once more. Suddenly she found her feet and made her way to the open doorway.
Though it was night and the sky loomed dark overhead, the lawn to the lighthouse was eerily bright. The full moon beamed down upon them, at peace in her airy thrown, with a magnificent robe of stars thrown about her shoulders, dazzling like a hundred diamonds. She lent an ivory glow to everything and all below. It should have been a peaceful scene with the soft moonlight and the rolling waves crashing in the background, and it would have been if not for Lucas running full speed toward the cliffs of the little island, screaming in holy terror as the misty form of Mary sped after him.
Mandy found herself balling her hands into fists at her sides so tightly that there were little half-moons on her palms from where her fingernails had dug into her flesh. As much as she didn’t want to watch, as much as intuition screamed at her to turn her head because she already knew what the outcome was going to be, she felt compelled to look. In fact, she couldn’t bring herself to look away.
Lucas kept on running and shrieking, throwing a terrified look behind him once or twice as he ran. Mary was hot on his heels, poking him in the back once in a while with a long, icy finger as she caught up to him. Mandy couldn’t decide which was worse, the horrified screams of Lucas, or the chilling shrieks of Mary as she chased him.
The ground was angling down towards the rocky drop-offs at the edge, but Lucas showed no signs of slowing in his race against the ghost, nor did the ghost show any sign of relenting against her victim. Mandy figured Lucas would have to stop running in a minute, and she didn’t even want to know what was going to happen then. What does a vengeful ghost do to her victim? Mandy was sure she didn’t know the rules to this horror show and she wasn’t sure she wanted to.
Lucas was getting much too close to the edge now. Mandy felt her heart speed up with anticipation. Lucas stopped and turned around at the last second, his eyes flashing in terror, his mouth open and panting. Mary pressed on, closer and closer to him she breezed. Mandy could see the beads of sweat glistening on Lucas’s brow and for a second she was reminded of dewdrops on a flower.
Mary extended her thin, bony finger at Lucas, hovering inches from his face. She was at once glorious and awful to look at, gracefully floating in the air and illuminated from above, with a wicked grimace on her dead face, her eyes as dark as coal. She floated even closer, and Mandy watched as Lucas’s mouth pulled down in a terrorized frown, the unspoken plea in his eyes unmistakable. It was deathly quiet as Lucas took a step back, trying to put some space in between himself and the specter. The grass was wet with the night time air and slick and Mandy knew what was going to happen. She opened her mouth to scream, but it was as if she was stuck in slow motion.
Lucas’s arms flailed wildly as his feet went out from under him. He fell backwards, his face disappearing yet searing its image forever into Mandy’s brain. His eyes opened wide in shock, his mouth still in an unbelieving frown, the scream was shrill and horrible and then was abruptly swallowed by a huge splash from the waiting sea. The misty shape o
f Mary let out a wild peal of delighted laughter as she dove off the cliff following Lucas and then all was quiet and the scene looked peaceful as it was meant to.
Mandy stood glued to the spot, staring at the point on the cliff where Lucas and Mary had just disappeared from. Mandy felt as if she was being pulled in two directions. An image of Steve laying face down on the floor of the lighthouse, bloody and unconscious called her back into the house, and yet part of her wanted to go take a look for herself over the edge of the cliff. Realistically, Mandy knew there was no hope for Lucas. The boulders in the rocky water below would have crushed the life right out of Lucas the way Mandy could crush a bug. She wiped away the tears starting to drip down her cheeks and turned and went in to the house, not stopping to look back.
* * *
Chapter 32
“Tragic Accident Claims Life of Young Local,” Steve read the headline aloud to Mandy and Ally as they sat on a bench in front of Short Sands Beach. “Wow. It’s amazing how many things the media gets wrong, isn’t it?”
Mandy snickered under her breath. “Yeah, well, not everyone can handle the truth. Sometimes lately I even have a hard time telling fact from fiction. That article is a whole lot easier to swallow than what really happened. I mean, no one would believe what actually happened up there unless they had seen it.”
“And if they had seen it, they would probably wish they hadn’t,” Ally added, shivering as the thoughts from the doomed visit to the lighthouse were let loose.
“I still can’t tell you both how grateful I am to you guys. I’m really lucky to have friends like you,” Mandy said, looking them both in the eyes.
