Chapter 26
WHEN we pulled up at the Boyd house, it was a little after midnight. Gina was in the front with me. Tanner, weary and shaky, sat in the back. I had dropped Nick off at his place before going to pick up Gina. Nick’s car was still outside my apartment, but I’d have to deal with that later.
The house was dark except for one light in the living room. Ellen Boyd was waiting for us outside and came to meet us as we got out of my car. Gina had a box in her hands containing a lot of candles and several spell bags. The box smelled heavily of sandalwood and rosemary and I’d had to unroll my window a little during the trip over to keep from gagging.
Tears had made a mess of Ellen’s makeup and our arrival threatened to set the waterworks going again. She bit her lip and tried to compose herself. “Thank you for coming,” she said. She began to lead us up to the house. “The girls are over at my mother’s house. They’re staying there tonight.” She gave her husband a brief hug. Her hands felt the spell bag that was hanging around Tanner’s neck by a leather strap. “What’s this?”
Gina answered, “It protects him. While he’s wearing that, the spirit cannot enter his body. It keeps him safe.”
The Boyds led the way up to the house. As we walked, Ellen told us, “A couple of hours ago I started hearing something moving around in the house. I thought it was the kids playing at first, so I didn’t give it much thought. Then I started to hear a woman laughing. Right after that you called, and I got Mom to pick up the kids.”
“Anything other than laughing?” I asked.
Ellen shook her head. “Not so far.”
The timing fit. It had been a few hours since Robbie had dispersed the spirit with the salt. She had obviously gone back to her “home.”
Inside the atmosphere was thick. Not only was she there, but she was pissed as hell, which wasn’t really surprising. Salt and ghosts don’t mix, and she was probably still smarting. The temperature inside was low enough that we could see vapor when we talked. She knew we were there too. I heard an odd murmur coming from near the fireplace. It seemed to emanate from the wall itself.
Gina set her box of goodies down on the coffee table. “Okay, let’s work quickly. I don’t want to give her a chance to retaliate. Tanner, Ellen, if you’d be so kind as to light these candles and set them around the room. Everywhere you can. Duncan, if you’d place one spell bag in each corner of the room I’d appreciate it.”
The first time I’d seen Gina perform an exorcism, I’d expected a ritual akin to what I’d seen in horror movies, with bibles and crosses and holy water and beds levitating and what have you. She had explained to me that, as a witch, she didn’t work that way. She used the powers of air, earth, fire, and water. She used the energy within her. It worked, so who was I to argue?
When we were ready, Gina turned off the electric light, and we were bathed in candlelight. She took her place in the center of the room and faced the fireplace. The Boyds and I stayed near the door. I was there to protect them, and I think they chose the spot so that they could bolt easily if it became necessary.
I heard something moving inside the wall. It sounded like someone was dropping a bowling ball down a staircase. The noise grew louder, and then we could hear a woman’s laughter among the bangs and thumps. Gina shook her head.
“Cindy Boyd,” she said, raising her hands in a commanding gesture, “I call you forward!”
The thumps ceased, but the laughter continued, growing so loud that it rang in my ears. Next to me Ellen Boyd looked terrified, tears streaming down her cheeks. If it wasn’t for her husband’s arm around her, I think she’d have run out of the house.
Gina raised her voice. “I can feel your presence. I feel your anger. I command you to show yourself! You cannot hide from us!”
A huge chunk of plaster burst out of the wall as if a charge of dynamite had been set off. Debris scattered onto the floor, and there was now a hole the size of a basketball about six inches to the right of the fireplace, right at eye level. Ellen Boyd squealed and clutched onto Tanner tightly. The plaster didn’t fall far, so it wasn’t like we were in danger of getting hit, but it definitely was startling. In rapid succession came two more bursts from the wall, making a line of holes along the wall coming toward us. A gust of spectral wind seemed to come out of these gaps, whistling in our ears and blowing Gina’s hair back. Gina tried to hide a smile.
“You show your fear, and you have every reason to fear me,” she said. She shot her right hand forward in a grabbing motion, clutching the air in front of her. As she pulled back a misty, blue-hued face showed in the nearest of the holes in the wall. The features were indistinct, but it was recognizable as the phantom of Cindy Boyd. The blue face was twisted in anger.
Gina pulled her hand slowly back, and as she did so the vaporous form seemed to be yanked from its hiding place in the wall. Soon the figure was standing in front of us. The ghostly wind picked up even more, becoming a howl in the enclosed space. Gina had to shout to make herself heard.
“You are not wanted here. This is not your home. I ask that you leave this place and go into the light. You will not be harmed. You will not spend eternity in hell. The light is a place of love and comfort. You need not fear it.” Gina squared her shoulders and stared at the specter. “But hear this! You will leave these people alone! I banish you from this earth, this house, and these people!”
The figure was becoming even more indistinct and seemed to be shrinking in size. I could no longer make out any facial features. Now it was just a blue mist in a vaguely human shape. The wind was diminishing as well.
Gina went on. “Leave this place now and know love. Never return to this realm. You will be safe in the light. This I promise you!”
The form let out a cry and promptly vanished. The wind stopped at the same time, leaving us all staring at nothing but the holes in the wall. Gina turned to us with a weary smile. I could see the aura around her, and it had become a little hazy, so I knew she’d expended a lot of energy confronting the spirit. She acted, though, as if it were all in a night’s work. “She’s gone now,” she told the Boyds.
Ellen Boyd looked hopeful. “Are you sure?”
Gina nodded. “Ghosts like that feed off of fear. Confronting them usually does the trick.”
Leaving her husband for the moment, Ellen rushed over to embrace Gina. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Gina patted her back. “My pleasure,” she said.
IT WAS quite a while later before Gina and I got away from Tanner and Ellen. Gina had given them the rest of the spirit bags she’d brought and told them to place one in each room of the house. “Cindy has gone on,” she told them, “and she won’t be back. You want to make sure, however, that another spirit doesn’t use her path to enter your house. The bags will keep that from happening. No more Ouija boards, though.”
Once we got out to the car I asked, “What about Robbie?”
Gina was putting her seat belt on, and she waited until she had it set to her liking before replying with a question of her own. “What do you mean?”
“You said ghosts like that feed off of fear. It sounded like you meant the ghost needed the fear to exist. How does that apply to Robbie?”
Gina laughed. “Robbie feeds off love, you fool. It’s your love that keeps him here. You haven’t figured that out in all these years?”
I started the engine. “I guess I haven’t really given it much thought.” We were silent for a few minutes. I turned on the radio to have some noise. There didn’t seem to be anything worth hearing, so I switched it back off.
“What if,” I asked, “I ever stop loving him? What happens then?”
Gina shook her head. “That, my dear boy, will never happen.”
TRAVEL was best. Staying in one place for very long wasn’t good for Caleb. It made him think too much about Angela and what they could have had.
Over time Caleb realized that the amulet was flawed. Every now and then the magic seemed to wane, and he reverted to what he’d been before. After a few weeks of flesh-eating, though, he’d be human again. That was okay. Caleb liked being human, but every now and then he didn’t mind enjoying the flesh. He gave up eating males, though. Now he just ate flesh from girls. Girls who danced or performed. Did that have something to do with his Angela? Caleb didn’t know for sure. He just knew he enjoyed killing girls now. And eating some of the flesh.
It made him human.