AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As the lid opened, I looked inside. There was a jar filled with some dried herb, a large chunk of obsidian, a hand mirror, and two pairs of knitting needles, along with what looked like a half-finished potholder. I shone the light on the jar and read the label. “That’s hellebore. It’s used for numerous spells but one in particular involves summoning astral creatures, ghosts, and demons. That, together with the obsidian and the mirror, most likely has created a one-way portal in this house. Whoever placed this here was intent on keeping those two old women bound here—” I paused as a creaking sound came from the wall at the back of the basement, this side of the shelves beneath the steps.
Bree flashed her light over to the wall and we could see the faint outline of a door. “What the hell? Did you know that door was there?”
“No,” Darla said. “I had no clue. We barely looked in the basement when we bought the house, to be honest. All we did was make sure there was no sign of water damage. In fact, it was Kevin who came down here to check it out.”
Bree and I moved closer to the wall. We moved a couple of boxes away from the bottom of the door, and promptly a dozen huge brown spiders raced out, each with a leg span the width of my palm. Darla screamed and jumped back as I recoiled, but Bree brought her boot down on several of them as the others scuttled into the shadows.
“Crap, I hate those!” Darla exclaimed.
“I’m not fond of them, but at least they aren’t poisonous,” I said.
The giant European house spiders had thumbed a ride over from Europe on a boat bound for British Columbia, and they had spread throughout both western Canada and western Washington. They were freaking ugly, the second-fastest spider in the world—that we knew of—and they ran directly at you in their myopic quest to find mates. At least they ate hobo spiders. And hobo spiders were trouble.
Once the boxes were away from the door, I looked at Bree. She flashed her light around the edges of the door until we found an indentation near where the lock should be. It was deep enough to fit our fingers in, and there was enough of an overhang on the indentation to catch hold and pull.
“Ready?” Bree asked.
I nodded.
She carefully pulled the door open, standing back. I stood to the other side and motioned for Darla to move to the side so that nobody was a direct target should there be something or someone waiting for us on the other side.
As the door creaked open, the hinges complaining, I caught sight of some sort of mist inside. What the hell? Curious, I leaned forward, trying to peek around the side without offering whatever might be in that mist a clear shot at my head.
Bree flashed her light inside and gasped. “Look,” she said, breaking the silence.
I followed her gaze and froze. There, in a small cubby, settled into two rocking chairs, were the skeletons of two women, and they were wearing the same outfits as our ghosts up in the attic.
* * *
“What the…”I stared at the skeletons, unsure of what to think. “Were they…who the hell put them in here?”
“I don’t know,” Bree said. “But look at their wrists and feet.”
I brought my flashlight to bear alongside hers. The wrists of the skeletons were tied to the arms of the chairs. What looked like thick leather thongs held them fast. Or they would have been held fast, had there been flesh on the bones. The skulls still had bits of hair attached—one of them silver, while the other looked like a faded dark hair. The eye sockets disturbed me—there was a faint light in them, and that said “ghost” to me. But the skin was gone, the bones bare other than the hair, and there was no telling how long they’d been here.
“I think we’d better call the cops,” I said. “If this was a murder scene, we shouldn’t interfere. But before we do, I’m going to break this spell.” I glanced back at the trunk. Beneath the needles and yarn was a piece of paper. I gingerly pulled it out, unfolding it. There, I recognized a series of runic inscriptions in Majekana—the secret language of witches. I scanned the writing.
Bind to bind, here you stay, forever now, and every day,
Bone to bone, I command you stay, forever now, and every day.
Herb to heart, heart to bone, I bind you here, to sit like stone.
Wrath to joy, and joy of wrath, forever trapped shall be your path.
What the hell? Someone had bound these two women to this house, but for what reason? Had they killed the old biddies, as well?
“I don’t know what went down in this house, but I can break this spell by burning the paper. That doesn’t guarantee they’ll leave, but they’ll be free to leave, although it may take more to get them out than that. They may like screwing with people. And the cops may want this incantation to put all the pieces together.” I stared at the paper, frowning.
“Is there any other way you can break the spell?” Bree started to say but stopped as the entire house shook. The floor rolled under our feet.
“Quake? Get the hell out of this basement!” I wasn’t sure how strong the foundation was and I wasn’t about to stick around and find out.
Darla turned, tackling the stairs as the swaying continued. Bree pushed me in front of her and—as I used the wall to brace myself—she followed me up the steps. As we tumbled through the door up above, Georgie gave us a confused look.
“What’s going on? Is something chasing you?”
Darla looked confused. “Don’t you feel the earthquake?”
