The Ghoul Next Door

chapter Thirty-Eight

On our way back to the car, my cell phone rang. My heart rate increased. Had Callahan seen us watching him?

When I glanced at the caller ID, I let out a sigh of relief. It was the demonologist, Zach Duncan, finally returning my call. Maybe now I could get some answers. I had to force myself to answer the call. Something was trying to stop me from talking to him.

“Hello, Larue. I’m sorry I didn’t call sooner. I was in a location with no cell phone coverage.”

I wouldn’t even bother to ask where that was. Probably in some old castle somewhere.

“That’s all right. Did you get my message?”

“Yes, I did. How are things? Are they the same?”

“Yes. It’s gotten worse. It was all I could do to pick up your call. Something in my head is telling me not to talk to you.”

“This sounds serious. You have to get rid of this thing attached to you.”

People told me this, but no one had a concrete way of telling me how to achieve this goal.

Static sounded across the line. I prayed I didn’t lose the connection before he told me how to get rid of this thing. “This demon can slip through an opening when someone is vulnerable. But you have to invite it in.”

I slipped behind the wheel of my car. “When would I have ever invited a demon in?”

“You may have not realized you were doing it,” he said.

Mindy climbed in the passenger seat. By the way Candy Cherry sat in the middle of the backseat with her arms crossed in front of her chest and eyes narrowed, I knew she wasn’t happy with the seating arrangement. Elvis and Mr. Fine sat on either side of her. They had no complaints. I needed a bus to haul all the ghosts around.

“I’ve been aware of the bad spirits from a very young age, you know that, and I’ve taken every possible precaution to avoid this very type of incident from happening.”

“I know you’ve talked to spirits from a young age, but how young were you when you realized the bad spirits were around?” he asked.

He had a point. It had taken a while for me to catch on that some spirits wanted nothing more than to harm me. “Well, maybe not young enough. Sixteen, I guess.”

“Well, that’s not early enough,” he said. “Larue, think hard. Can you remember anything you might have done to conjure up a demon?”

I thought for a second and then it hit me. “There was the time that I was at a sleepover and of course the other girls wanted to use a Ouija board. I was thirteen and a spirit started talking to us. It singled me out. The girls thought it was a fun game, so they asked questions and at first nothing happened. Then slowly the wedge began to move, easing over the letters spelling out words. It went to the L, the A, over to the R, the U and finally stopping on the E.”

Mindy had been there at the time and she’d gotten mad, telling everyone to stop messing with me, but I knew it wasn’t them. I had sensed the presence in the room.

I continued, “The board told the girls everything they wanted to hear about their life, boys, grades, and their futures. I told them to get rid of the board, to throw the thing away or I would.”

“So what happened?” he asked.

“They finally stopped, but I decided to leave. I was too upset to stay. Of course they teased me forever after that, but I didn’t care.”

That night Mindy had left with me. She’d always been a great friend.

“Do you know if the girls ever experienced anything else?” Zach asked.

“Not that I know of. But I’m not sure if they would have told me. So do you think this has something to do with that?”

“It’s possible and highly probable since you now know how to avoid these creatures.”

“But why now? Why would this thing wait so long before coming back?” I asked.

He let out a deep breath and then said, “I don’t know for sure, but I’d say it was just waiting for the right time, the perfect chance to come back when you were vulnerable again. It’s their only chance of ever getting into your life.”

“But why did it pick me? I didn’t think I was that weak.”

“It’s not about being weak and everything about the demon. Whatever they think would cause the most harm. They’ll take any chance they can get.”

I sighed. “I am so confused. I figured it had something to do with the black magic that’s been going on in Magnolia.”

“It probably is related. This was the chance the demon was looking for. If someone conjured up something bad, then this was the one that would step forward. It’s probably been waiting for this… just waiting its time.”

“Well, I guess that does make sense. The main problem is to get the witches to stop using the black magic. It has to end. But how to get them to stop is the hardest part.”

“I doubt it’ll ever end. You just have to try to keep it under control,” he said.

I knew the type of people Brianna and Becky were and it was their selfishness that fueled this behavior.

“It’s a never-ending battle,” I said.

“Are you ready to take on that battle?” he asked.

“It doesn’t look as if I have a choice. It keeps coming to me. There’s nothing I can do to stop it.”

“Would you like for me to come there?”

“No, no. It’s not necessary just yet. But I may have more questions.”

“Well, call anytime. I’ll be available now. No more phone problems.”

“Thank you, Zach.”

“Take care of yourself, Larue.”

I’d heard that worry in his tone before and knew that meant bad news for me. But I was thankful for his advice. When I’d finally told my mother about what I was seeing at the age of sixteen, she called as many people she could find on the subject until I was finally put in touch with Zach Duncan. He was the leading demonologist in the nation. I had worked with him for many years now, although he didn’t do as much nowadays.

“What did he say?” Mindy asked when I hung up the phone.

“Basically, I’m in deep doo-doo if I don’t fix this.”

“So he told you about demons then?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“Did you think that incident before had something to do with this?”

Mindy had never liked to talk about what had happened that night.

I paused. “Yes. I never invited that thing into my life though.”

“You need to find that Ouija board and get rid of it. I saw that on one of those paranormal shows once,” Mindy said.

I steered the car around a corner. “What? You can’t be serious. The only way you think I can get rid of it is if I find that board? That was many years ago. I’m sure the board is gone by now.”

“It doesn’t look as if you have any other options.”

Mr. Fine and Candy Cherry bickered in the backseat, but I couldn’t make out what the argument was about. Elvis shook his head. He looked as if he wanted an eject button.

“I’m going to call Mr. Duncan back and ask for him to come here. I should have done that a long time ago but I was trying to be the big shot and pretend that I had everything under control.”

“I think once he gets here he’d to tell you exactly what I’m telling you. Heck, one of the books I read the other night was written by him. But I know you’re stubborn and won’t listen to me.”

“You read one of his books?” I asked with a quirked eyebrow.

Her mouth twisted up at one corner. “I wanted to know what we were dealing with at the investigation.”

“I’m impressed.” I smiled. “And you’re right, I am stubborn. I won’t deny it. But if you’re right I’ll make sure to tell you so.”

“You’d better.” She wiggled her finger.

“There’s nothing I can do to stop this black magic permanently, but I can fight it. I’ll make Magnolia a very unfriendly place for them to practice black magic.”

“You should think about being the coven leader,” Mindy said.

I shook my head. “I don’t think that’s anything I’m interested in. I’m no witch.”

“You have a natural talent for it,” she added.

As if she had overheard our conversation, my phone rang and Karyn’s number popped up when I glanced at the phone.

“Larue, are you all right? I’ve been really worried. Why haven’t you answered your phone?” she asked.

It was hard for me to explain that a demon was screening my calls.

“Sorry. I’m okay.”

“You don’t sound convinced of that.”

“I suppose this demon is still hanging on to me. What do I do to stop this? How will I get rid of this thing that’s following me? It’s attached.”

“You did the spells before without the necklace. You can do it again.”

I slowed the car to make a turn, ignoring the evil voice in my head telling me to wreck the car, then said, “But this is fighting something on a whole new level. It takes a lot of energy that I’m not sure we can find.”

“Well, I won’t lie, the necklace would help. If only we could find it,” she said.

“How will the necklace help? I don’t mean to offend you, Karyn, but I’m not sure I believe in the power of a single necklace.”

“It’s a rare stone, Larue. It collects the energy of the sun, moon, and air. It makes your energy twice that of what it would be without it.”

“Is there any other way to harvest that much energy?” I asked.

“There is one thing, but I’ve never tried it, and it’s very dangerous.”

The wheels cried around a curve. “I’m listening.”

Mindy looked at me as if I’d officially lost my mind. I worried that maybe I had. “Slow down,” she mouthed.

“There’s an ancient spell that only a top witch is able to perform. Actually, it’s only happened once. When something like this demon has been set free on you, it’s usually never possible to get rid of it.”

That was very encouraging. So in other words, I was doomed.

“Listen Larue, I have to go for now, but I promise I’ll think of something. We’ll get rid of this thing. Just don’t give up okay?”

“I won’t give up.”

The demon was in for a fight, but which one of us would win?