“Okay,” Eve agreed. “But I’m going to need another drink for this.”
“Me too.” Katie stood, stretching her legs. She wondered if Eve remembered the presence they’d encountered in an abandoned weapons igloo at the TNT over the summer. The being had no form or substance, but had left them shivering in a deluge of cold. When it spoke, the entity’s voice had grated in their minds, heard only inside their heads. It offered no information, but answered yes or no questions that eventually led to the discovery of Wendy’s remains. To this day, Katie didn’t know what they’d encountered—ghost, alien, demon—only that the memory could still make gooseflesh spring alive on her arms.
Hopefully, the Ouija board wouldn’t do the same.
Chapter 3
“You should be the one who asks the questions, since it’s your house,” Sarah said to Eve, placing a quarter on the board.
With its sun and moon illustrations and carnival-style lettering, the board reminded Katie of something she’d see in a fortuneteller’s hut. “What’s the quarter for?”
“To keep evil spirits away.” Sarah’s lips tipped up in an impish smile. “In the old days, it would have been an offering of silver. Now it’s just a token, but the idea is the same.”
They’d moved the board to the dining room table, making it easier to hover around the game. Eve sat at the head, with Katie and Sarah to either side. Several candles burned at the opposite end of the table, splattering the board with halos of flickering light. Several more occupied the top of a buffet situated beneath a double window. The rest of the room, like the night outside, was dark.
Katie fidgeted in her seat, keeping her hands in her lap. “I’ve never played.” She eyed the planchette. A heart-shaped piece of plastic with a small, clear window, the object squatted in the center of the board. She wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to know the answers the thing would divulge. Even as a kid she’d shied away from anything having to do with fortunetelling or palm reading, preferring practical answers over what-if possibilities. It was only within the last few years she’d started looking elsewhere, like the igloo at the TNT, desperate for any lead on her missing sister.
“It’s easy.” In the candlelight, Sarah’s coppery hair carried the wine-red tint of merlot. “Place your fingertips on the planchette. Lightly, like this.” Sarah demonstrated and Katie and Eve followed suit. “Eve will ask one question at a time, and we each concentrate on the answer. But first we have to invite a spirit to join us.” She looked expectantly at Eve.
“I remember now.” Eve inhaled deeply. The look on her face hinted they were no longer kids playing with a toy, but adults venturing into an unknown realm. When she spoke, her voice was whisper-soft. “Is there a spirit here who would like to join us?”
Katie bit the inside of her cheek and stared at the planchette. Part of her wanted to giggle and part feared they were messing with something better left alone. Seconds passed, stretching longer, funneling into a minute. She fidgeted.
“Sometimes it takes a while,” Sarah whispered.
Almost immediately, Katie felt movement beneath her hand. Her eyes widened as the game piece slid across the board, stopping so the word YES was displayed in the small circular window at its point. Sarah grinned, and even Eve smiled. For a moment, Katie wondered if they were toying with her, making the thing move between them, but their reactions seemed genuine.
“Okay, um…” Eve seemed to struggle to come up with the first question. After a few seconds, her grin turned playful. “Does Caden miss me?”
The planchette remained rooted to the spot, displaying the word YES.
Sarah rolled her eyes. “That’s obvious.”
“How about…” Eve sat straighter, speaking to the room at large. “Should Sarah go on a date with Darrell Mason?”
The heart-shaped object slid across the board. NO.
Sarah smiled broadly. “I told you.”
Katie enjoyed the silliness. It was fun asking frivolous questions, and it didn’t take much to concentrate on the answers. She didn’t believe in spirits so much as body and mind dynamics. Her negative opinion of Lyle had probably influenced the energy of the board. The being in the igloo had been real, but this felt like a carnival trick.
At the head of the table one of the candles flickered.
“Who should Sarah date?” Eve asked.
The planchette didn’t move.
“Great.” Sarah frowned. “So I’m destined to become an old maid?”
Katie knew the question was rhetorical, a muttering of complaint, but the plastic playing piece inched to the center of the board where it stopped.
Eve’s eyes grew wide. “I think you took control of it with that last question.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“I know, but it doesn’t matter. Ask it something else.”
“This was all your idea, anyway.” Katie tossed in her two cents.
“Okay.” Sarah bit her lip as if bracing for something monumental. “Am I ever going to meet the perfect guy, fall in love, and get married?”
“That’s three questions in one,” Eve whispered.
The planchette didn’t seem to mind. It moved over the word YES.
“Who?” Sarah queried with a grin.
The last time they had prompted it to spell something, the “spirit” hadn’t cooperated, but this time the plastic heart moved to the letter Q. A second later it swept backward in the alphabet to M.
“QM.” Sarah was plainly stumped.
“Must be initials,” Katie said.
“But I don’t know anyone with those initials,” Sarah protested.
“Maybe not now,” Eve chimed in. “But who’s to say what the future will bring?”
Sarah shook her head. “No one names their kid anything that starts with a Q. Whoever, he is, he must be a winner.”
The planchette jerked a little.
“You’re ticking off the spirit,” Eve said, suppressing a giggle.
“Enough about me.” Sarah sat straighter. “Let’s find out about Katie and Ryan.”