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She hands me a bundle of herbs that looks like a small grenade. She tells me that if I scatter the herbs over the ghost it will immobilize the spirit long enough for me to bring it here.
“You want to bring it to our home?” Seer asks skeptically, anger coloring his tone.
Tory walks over and wraps her arms around his neck, giving him a quick kiss. “Mon Coeur, don’t worry. We’re creating a prison for it.”
He looks at her so tenderly that I have to look away. Mama watches them carefully, like she knows a secret they don’t.
“Are you sure you’re up for that?” he whispers to her.
I go over to the fridge and pull out a beer, just to have something to do to ignore the intimate moment unfolding between them.
“It doesn’t matter,” she tells him. “I won’t let anything or anyone ruin our happiness.”
CHAPTERNINE
Ifeel as if ice has been poured over my head, and I sit up quickly, turning on the light.
“Cassandra, what the hell?” I ask, seeing the little girl watching me as I sleep. “We’ve talked about this! I need personal space.”
“I know,” she says, ashamed. “But I was tired of hiding in the bar.”
I look at her with compassion, knowing things haven’t been easy for her since the poltergeist showed up.
“Why are you hiding at all?” I ask her seriously. “Why won’t you talk to me and tell me what’s going on?”
“You already know,” she whispers ominously. “I saw you and the witches figure it out.”
“Don’t call them that,” I chastise her.
She ignores me. “It’s coming after us one by one. You don’t know what it’s like over here.”
“So tell me,” I say. “Explain to me what it’s like for you.”
She nods slowly and tells me that no one has seen the spirit, they can only feel it. But it’s already caught several ghosts in the community and tortured them. It has the power to drag them to hell, even if they don’t deserve it.
“I can’t go to hell,” she whispers, horrified. “I’m just a little girl.”
Her fear stabs me in the heart like a knife, and I know that even though she’s been roaming this earth for decades, she is still a little girl. Even as a ghost, she has the capacity to be afraid of things that live in the darkness.
“You’re so afraid of what it can do to you in the living world, but you’re lucky. All it can do is hurt you, maybe even kill you. But it has the power to corrupt our souls and turn even the friendliest ghost evil. When it gets us in its clutches, we’re powerless to stop it from corrupting us, trapping us in a hellish prison.”
“We’ll find a way to stop it,” I promise her.
“How?” she asks petulantly. “Have you ever even seen a poltergeist? Do you have any idea what the hell you’re doing?”
“Language, Cassandra,” I chide. “Have I ever abandoned you?”
“You don’t have a choice. I live in your house and you’re the only living person who can see me.”
“And who cleans up all your messes and explains away your temper tantrums?” I ask. “If it weren’t for me, the club would have expelled the ghosts ages ago. I’m on your side, Cassandra, you have to trust me.”
She sighs and nods, though she doesn’t seem confident in my ability. I suppose I can’t blame her. I am so far out of my depth right now. All I know about poltergeists, I’ve learned from ghost stories. Literal stories told by ancient ghosts who brought me up as a child.
I’ve never dealt with one firsthand, and I always hoped I wouldn’t have to. Maybe it was a pipe dream, but I could have gone my whole life without having to experience the evil this spirit is causing. My only comfort is that perhaps this will be the only poltergeist I ever have to exorcise. Unless I’m cursed, which is a distinct possibility.
“Can you tell me anything about the spirit?” I ask her. “What does it look like?”
Her eyes widen and she shakes her head. “We can’t see it, you donkey.” She giggles at her insult to me. “Don’t you know anything?”
