My superiors would have branded her damned, but I knew better. She was one of the kindest people I had ever met. She tried her best to live a good life. I didn’t care that she was different. I just didn’t understand the logic of the church. How could someone so kind and caring be damned? I don’t think God is vengeful. I’m sure it’s odd to hear that from someone who was once a priest, but there are a few of us who don’t feel the same way the church does.
I paused. Tabby was something else for me to have in my pocket. If this all went to Hell, I could call her and see what she had to say. She did have a Hell of a lot more experience than I did with supernatural stuff. It’s not every day that an ex-priest has a witch he can call on. Maybe there was something at work, getting me involved with Lucy. Maybe there wasn’t and I was getting dragged into this craziness by my idiotic brain. Either way, if things got out of hand, I could call Tabby. She would give me a kick in the ass if I needed it. Maybe she might even be able to help.
###
After a bit, Will walked back into the room. “Tor’s here, want to help with the groceries?”
I didn’t say anything. I just stood up and followed him out to the car. The more I thought about it, the more sense it made to bring Tabby in. She was the one who watched horror films of every description. She was the one who studied folklore about demons and vampires. She was the one who was a part-time ghost hunter. It wouldn’t hurt to ask if I could bring in another person.
After we got all the groceries in the house, Tor put everything away. I tried to help with that, but Will stopped me.
“Your best bet is to sit here at the table with me. The kitchen is Tor’s domain, and I don’t want to see you get clobbered for putting something in the wrong spot.”
I grinned and looked over at Tor. She was arranging cans in alphabetical order. I was way out of my element. I sat down at the table like a good boy.
“I have a question,” I said.
“Okay,” Will said, scratching his wrist.
“How would the both of you feel about me bringing in a friend who might be able to help?”
“What sort of friend?” Tor asked. Her eyes never left the cans she was arranging.
“My ex-girlfriend. She might be useful.”
Tor snapped her eyes upwards towards me. “And how would your ex-girlfriend help?” she asked, nastiness evident in her voice.
I took a deep breath. “Because she’s battled a demon once before.”
It got so quiet, you could hear a pin drop.
Then, Tor straightened up and put the cans in the pantry. “You really think she can help Lucy?”
“I think she can try.”
Chapter Twelve
Tabby: Part 2
I got into my car and started it. I had dumped the ruined plants in the dumpster, but I still didn’t feel safe. There was something not right, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I cued my iPod and cranked the volume on the car stereo. Today was Type O Negative day.
I’m sure it sounds really weird to have specific days set aside for music, but it’s something I’ve always done. For me, it’s like I need a soundtrack for my day in order to make it better or to keep it from going badly. If I didn’t play the soundtrack for my day in my car, things just didn’t work right; almost like a transmission that is missing just enough tines on the gears to sound odd but can still shift.
Ironically, if I didn’t go anywhere by car, I didn’t need the soundtrack. Maybe the soundtrack was my way of being obsessive compulsive and staving off the bad luck that I feared was about to rain down upon my head.
Type O Negative was what I listened to when I felt down, but I didn’t know why. Sometimes, the music helped me get out of my funk, and sometimes, the funk was a sign that trouble was brewing. Either way, it felt right and true to play Type O Negative today.
Most people familiar with the music would feel it’s downright morbid, but when you looked underneath, it was all sarcasm and message. I loved it. I hated that I would never hear Peter’s dark voice again. Rest in peace, Peter Steele, wherever you are.
Suddenly, I heard an upbeat bit of music in the background that was completely counterpoint to the song I was listening to.
“Oh shit, the phone.”
I grabbed my purse from the back seat while keeping my eyes on the road. The car swerved slightly, and I decided not to look in the backseat and just rooted around with my hand. I felt the handle of my purse, grabbed it and threw it into the front passenger seat. Then, I dug inside it. Finally, I felt my phone in the bottom of my purse. I snatched it and answered it.
“Yeah,” I said.
“Tabby?” he asked.
Holy shit, it was him. The him that got away. The him I feel I corrupted. My defrocked priest, Jimmy Holiday.
“Why, Jimmy. I thought you’d disappeared.”
He laughed. “Nah, just stuck in a cubicle for way too long. You still witchy?”
It was my turn to laugh. “Um, yeah. I was born a witch, I don’t think that’s going to change anytime soon.”
“Good. You wanna come to Virginia?” he asked.
What the Hell? Maybe this was the wrongness I’d been sensing. Things were pretty bad if Jimmy Holiday was asking a witch for help. When we were dating, he avoided my work like the plague. Now, he was asking for my help. This could be interesting.
I felt my gut clench up. It hit me—whatever was happening with Jimmy is what caused my plants to die. There was a badness that Jimmy had gotten himself involved in. If he wasn’t careful, something this bad could kill him. “What’s going on, Jimmy?”
I heard him cough. “You got any experience with possession?”
I felt cold. I pulled into my space at the college. “Why?”
“I’m down here in a town called Sorrow’s Point.” He laughed. “I know, great name for a town.” He paused. “Anyway, I’m here trying to save a little girl.”
“You didn’t go all priesty again on me again, did you?”
“Nope. Guy I knew from back home contacted me because I used to be a priest. He thinks his daughter is possessed. I’m … I’m starting to think it’s possible.”
Ever get that feeling that whatever is going on in your life, the crazy thing is what you have to do? I had it. Right then. “How old is the little girl?”
“Six.”
“Where in Virginia?”
Chapter Thirteen
Acquaintance
I flipped my phone closed. “She’s on her way,” I said. “She has to drive from Morgantown.”
“Morgantown?” Will asked.
I nodded. “Morgantown, West Virginia. It’s where she lives now. She’ll probably be here in five or six hours. She said she’d be in touch.”
Will stretched. “Good. We can use all the help we can get.” He scratched his ear.
I played with my soda can, letting the aluminum crackle in my fist. “Besides,” I said, “if an exorcism is granted, they recommend a female be present.” I looked at Tor. “I’m not sure you want to see your daughter’s exorcism.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think I can take much more as it is.”
“It’s settled then.” I turned to Will. “Do you want to be present?”
He paused. “I’d like to try.”
I nodded. Would he really be able to do it? I didn’t know, but it was his choice to make – not that there ever was going to be an exorcism. That depended on the church. I was there to collect information and get proof. I still didn’t know if Lucy was even possessed. The house, for sure, I felt was haunted. But Lucy was a mystery.
I was hoping I could get medical proof of her condition, something to make Will realize that his daughter was treatable and not by way of exorcism. Can you imagine how frightening an exorcism would be for a kid who didn’t really understand what was going on? Maybe, if I was lucky, I might be able to help figure out what needed to be done to make Lucy better. I didn’t want to think about the supernatural part of it – the
reason I called Tabby in the first place. It was easier to think that the haunted house and Lucy were two separate things, but I knew they were connected.
And if the church granted the exorcism, who’s to say that she really was possessed? My skepticism was going overboard. I needed to pull myself back. It wasn’t up to me to decide if Lucy is possessed. I was there to gather information and help Tor and Will submit it to the church—that was all. It was the church’s job to decide Lucy’s fate. I was sure that if I was asked and if an exorcism was granted, I would participate. Maybe I was crazy, but I thought that participating in an exorcism would be an interesting experience.
“Should I save dinner for your friend?” Tor asked.
I shook my head. “I wouldn’t. She’s not going to be here until eight or nine. She’ll probably stop on the way to get something to eat.”
Tor got up from the table and began pulling out various things from the pantry.
I turned away. Whatever it was that she was making looked way too complicated for me to even begin to try to decipher the ethnic region, let alone what it actually was.
I looked at the clock. “It’s only two.”
Will laughed and patted me on the shoulder. “You’ve never seen Tor really cook. For awhile, she considered becoming a chef, even took classes, but she couldn’t take the demands of some customers, so we get the benefit of her expertise.”
He said it with pride. Even though he said he no longer loved her, I could tell from the way he acted that he did. I wasn’t sure if their marriage would survive, there was so much hurt between then, but at least Will could still be proud of his wife. I liked that.
“Care if I check my e-mail?” I asked.
He got up from the table. “No, not at all. You brought your laptop right?”
I nodded. He followed me into the library. He worked on his machine until he had a guest account set up for me on his wireless network. After a few minutes, he had me hooked up to the net and I was ready to go.
“I’m going to go check on Lucy,” he said. “If you need anything, just ask Tor.”
“Okay.”
He left the room. I loaded my browser and looked at my e-mail. It was amazing how much mail I had just by missing a day. I shot off a quick message to my boss, letting him know that there was nothing to report yet, but that Lucy was really sick.
I got everything with work dealt with as much as I could. I had the feeling that most of my contracts would be given to other designers. I should have felt upset about it, but I didn’t. Ever since all this started, I couldn’t make myself care about my job. Lucy, on the other hand, was completely fascinating.
I grabbed my notes. I had no proof towards anything, yet. Hopefully, I would get some soon.
###
Will was gone for a couple of hours. After I was done with all of my computer crap, I went back into the kitchen. Tor poured over dinner. It was interesting just watching her work. The way she moved, it was like she was choreographed. She measured nothing, and with each thing she added, the aroma grew more and more appetizing.
“What are you making?” I finally asked.
“Chicken Marsala. Chicken braised with mushrooms and a wine sauce.”
“It smells really good.”
She smiled at me. This was the first time I really saw her smile; it was captivating. Now, I knew why Will married her. She had a smile that could control a room and stop it dead. A smile like that could be dangerous, depending on the person using it and their intentions. I could only hope that Tor’s intentions were good ones.
I smiled back. It was nice to be friendly with her. I wasn’t sure if she was an enemy or an ally. Until I knew, I would keep her close and pretend everything was peachy. I didn’t need any more conflict. Things were going to be crazy enough once Tabby got there.
Chapter Fourteen
Tabby: Part Three
Long car trips; no matter how you try to dress them up with sayings like: “I can see more of the country,” or “There’s a lot more to do”—they're still fucking boring! Yeah, once in awhile, you’ll see a weird road side attraction in West Virginia, but not enough to make up for seventy-nine. Interstate seventy-nine is the bane of my existence. Never is there not construction on the damn thing, and people drive like maniacs. I’m not talking speed so much, but there are people who like to go at least ten miles under the speed limit along with idiots who consistently drive over eighty miles an hour with a cell phone in one hand and a drink in the other. Sometimes, I wouldn’t be surprised if the drink was beer, but that’s what you get when people think that they are invincible and they don’t think about anyone else.
I glanced around as I drove. Trees, farm land, cows, trees, the road ahead of me, hills, trees. I was slowly going insane. Then I saw the junction for seventy-seven. I just about jumped for joy.
Jimmy owed me for this—nah, not really, but it sounded good. My Ph. D. was now on hold. Isaac was staying with a friend. I took a leave of absence. I knew Jimmy was only calling me because he had to. I couldn’t imagine how the family must feel with their girl in such a state that the father became desperate enough to believe she was possessed. With the dead plants, the feeling in my gut, and the fact I was now on my way to Virginia, it just didn’t look good. At least I now knew what all the omens were about.
I wished Jimmy had been calling me because he wanted to, not just because he needed my witchy expertise, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up.
I looked at the dashboard clock. It was a little after six. Time to get something to eat. Each time a roadside sign appeared, I hoped it was a food sign, but none came. First came gas, then came attractions, and finally, food.
There was an Olive Garden. Perfect. I turned off at the exit. The way I looked at it, food with garlic was a good idea. Garlic had cleansing properties, and from what Jimmy described, I was going to need them.
Chapter Fifteen
Jimmy
After dinner, we settled in the living room, Will in the chair, Tor and myself on the sofa. Tor arranged it so that I was sitting in between them. It was uncomfortable, very uncomfortable.
Will never turned on the TV, we sat there, silent. I got the feeling that they didn’t entertain often, and that they almost never used the living room for other people besides Will.
“Does anyone sit with Lucy at night?” I asked.
Tor looked over at me. Her expression was guarded. “Not usually. When the sounds start, she’s asleep. When I look in on her, she’s asleep. She’s the only person able to sleep through the sounds.”
There was something about that that made me doubt that Lucy was sleeping. I didn’t think Tor was lying, I just thought that Lucy was very good at deceiving her mother.
Will played with his watch, twisting it around on his wrist as far as he could get it to go, then he’d twist it back. His wrist was turning red from the metal rubbing across his skin. He either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
“She just sleeps,” Will said. “I checked to see if she was faking once, but she wasn’t. She was fast asleep.”
I let it go. Tons of kids have been fooling their parents by pretending to be asleep to avoid school for hundreds of years, so, why would this stuff with Lucy be any different? I allowed Will his little delusion. It didn’t really hurt anything. “So, whatever this is, it is causing havoc not only with Lucy, but throughout the house.”
“I guess so,” Tor said. “I mean, it’s scary. We don’t know what it is.” Tor ran her fingers through the fringe on the pillow she was holding. The pillow was some sort of mottled velvet with sparkles in the fabric. It was a completely girly thing that for some reason, reminded me of Morocco.
“Well,” I said. “Maybe Tabby will be able to help.”
“I hope so,” Tor said. She looked away quickly, but not before I saw the tears forming in her eyes.
###
It was a long wait for Tabby to get there, made longer by the fact that we were sitting in a room, sil
ent because no one wanted to talk. Why Will didn’t just turn on the TV I didn’t know. Maybe he wanted to say something, but couldn’t get up the nerve.
He needed to get himself together. I couldn’t help him if I didn’t have a clear picture as to what was going on. The house was such an odd place; made odder by its owner and his “activities.” I wanted to see if Tabby could close off any interference from the attic room. If it was cut off, maybe Lucy would do better, maybe she wouldn’t, but it was worth a try. Besides, if she got the interference cut off, it might be easier to see if Lucy was possessed, or just a very sick little girl who happened to live in a haunted house.
Almost as soon as night fell, the noises started. Because it was winter, night fell pretty early, around six. It got me thinking. Would a six-year-old really be asleep at six p.m.?
“Have you ever tried waking Lucy up while the noises are going on?” I asked.
Will looked at me. His eyes narrowed. He took it differently than I meant him to.
I shook my head. “I’m not trying to say you haven’t done anything, Will. I’m just trying to figure it out—that’s what you brought me here for anyway, so don’t get your dander up.”
Will’s look softened. “I’m sorry, Jimmy. I’m so used to getting ready to fight with doctors and everyone else. Really, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. So, I’ll ask again. Have you ever tried to wake Lucy up once the noises have started?”
“No.”
“Wanna see what happens?”
###
I felt like a fourteen-year-old dared to go into a haunted house. Will said he was too afraid to do it, and Tor didn’t want to, so I found myself going up to Lucy’s room alone. Was I freaked out? Not really. I mean, she was tied down for Christ’s sake. It wasn’t like she could hurt me. So far, I hadn’t seen anything to make me want to run out of there screaming, and the only thing supernatural I’d experienced was that room, the dream that could possibly be explained by other means, and the noises I was currently listening to.