Black Forest, Denver Cereal Volume 5 (9 page)

“
Good riddance,” Tres
said. “Those guys are a cancer. There’s rumbling that they were
trying to vote out Aden at the end of the year.”

“
Wonder where the third
Dad is?” Aden asked.

“
He called while you guys
were talking,” Tres said. “He said, and I quote, ‘No daughter of
mine is going to treat another person like that. We’ll handle this
at home.’”

“
It’s the end of the
dynamic trio?” Aden asked. “Not likely.”

“
Oh, you never know,”
Valerie said.

“
Will you take it down
now?” Sam asked.

“
Sure, Dad,” Valerie said.
“But it’s already gone viral.”

“
What does that mean?” Sam
asked.

“
Other people like the
video so much they made their own copies. Even if Val takes the
video down, it will be reposted by someone else,” Tres said. “God,
I’m so sorry about Noelle.”

“
She’s had to deal with
those girls since she was little,” Aden said. “The girls are egged
on by their mothers. They take out their frustration at me on her.
I can’t say I’m sorry they and their horrible children are out of
our lives.”

Sam put his hand on Aden’s shoulder. He
nodded to Valerie.

“
Wait,” Aden said. “Before
you delete it, can we…”

Valerie played the video. The men laughed
and insisted on playing the video again. When the video was done,
Valerie deleted it from her YouTube stream. She hugged her father
good-bye and followed Aden out to the parking lot.

“
Well, that’s that,” Tres
said.

“
I hope so,” Sam said.
“Aden’s right. They really hate him.”

“
Without shares, they have
no power,” Tres said.

“
I hope so,” Sam
repeated.

~~~~~~~~

Monday afternoon — 3:15 P.M.

“
Okay,” Blane said. “Are
you ready?”

“
I’m ready,” Delphie
said.

Blane threw another log on the raging fire
in the fireplace. Jacob was lying on his back on a massage table in
the middle of the main Castle’s main sitting room. He had more than
fifty acupuncture needles throughout his body.

Over the course of the day, they had fought
the dark entity that lingered inside him. The dark had neither
taken hold of him nor let go of him. Blane was going to give Jacob
an acupuncture exorcism. Because the entity’s power was so strong,
Blane was not able to set the last needle. He and Delphie had spent
the last hour practicing acupuncture. He was sure she would be able
to place the last needle.

Delphie had already sealed off the sitting
area from the rest of the house. The rest of the family waited
upstairs in the loft. Blane touched Delphie’s arm and left the room
to wait in the kitchen.

Delphie set up an energy vortex around her
and Jacob. She created psychic protection to protect her from the
entity. When she touched Jacob’s face, he opened his eyes. He gave
her a half smile.

“
Go ahead,” he
whispered.

Delphie stuck the needle under his
collarbone. Jacob began to shake. He pulled on his shirt until it
ripped from his body. His body began to sweat. He grunted and his
back arched.

Delphie watched his psychic body split open
and thousands of multicolored snakes came slithering out. Delphie
began grabbing snakes and throwing them into the blazing fire. The
fire sparked with life as the snakes were consumed. More and more
snakes came pouring out of Jacob’s body. Sweating from the hard
work and the hot room, Delphie ran from place to place collecting
the foul creatures and tossing them in the fire.

She thought they were almost done when the
tiny tip of a black tail appeared. The tip became a thick tail. The
tail became a large reptilian creature. The size of a Mach truck,
the enormous dark entity’s bright red eyes glared at Delphie. She
tried to grab it but it laughed at her. The creature grew in size
and weight. Surprised, Delphie stepped back. The creature stepped
out of Jacob’s body on thin spindly legs. With its head scraping
the ceiling, it leaned over Delphie.

“
I am not afraid of you,”
Delphie said through trembling lips. “I’ve known you all of my
life.”

“
Yessss,” the creature’s
voice came in a purring calm. “My Oracle.”

Delphie threw herself at the creature. Her
arms barely made it around its neck. The creature shook his head
and Delphie flew across the room. She hit the door to the side
hallway with a bang. The door opened a crack. Now filling all of
the room, the dinosaur like creature continued toward her. It
opened its large mouth with sharp, crooked teeth to swallow her
whole.

“
Hello?” Katy stuck her
head in the door. “We just got home from school and there aren’t
any brownies and…”

The creature snorted and turned his
attention to the small child.

“
Katy! NO!” Delphie
exclaimed.

Delphie shouted to hail the creature’s
attention back to her. He opened his mouth over Delphie. Struck
with terror, Delphie couldn’t move. Her head went into the
creature’s mouth.

“
Hey, get away from my
Delphie,” Katy said. “That’s not nice.”

With a flick of her hand, the creature flew
across the room.

“
Fire,” Jacob whispered.
“To the fire.”

Paddie stepped into the room behind Katy. In
an instant, the creature shrank to the size of a small, dark
spider. The tiny spider zoomed across the room toward the
children.

“
Katy doesn’t like
spiders,” Paddie said. He stomped on the spider.

Delphie jerked Paddie off the ground before
the entity could invade him. Katy bent down to look at the squashed
spider. The spider began to grow into a serpent again.

“
Fire, Katy, fire,” Jacob
said. “Together.”

Katy looked up at her father.

“
One,” Jacob gasped out.
“Two…”

“
THREE!” Katy and Jacob
said.

The growing spider flew across the room. It
hit the back of the fireplace with a thud then oozed into the
roaring flames. A bone chilling scream and foul smell arose from
the fire. Setting Paddie down, Delphie ran to the fire. Close on
her heels, Paddie threw something from his pocket into the fire.
The fire sparked, grew large, then, as if none of it had happened,
the fire returned to normal. Delphie set a fresh log on the
grate.

“
Help me now,” Delphie
said. “Do we see any snakes?”

“
There! There!” Paddie
said.

Paddie ran to pick up a red and black snake.
Before he could touch them, the snakes flew across the room. The
snakes hit the wall then tumbled into the fire. Delphie picked up
one straggler snake and add it to the fire. On his tip toes, Paddie
looked into Jacob.

“
There are a few more
there,” Paddie said.

He reached his hand to get them but Katy
threw them into the fire. He giggled.

“
I like it when you do
that,” he said. Katy laughed.

“
Jake?” Delphie
asked.

“
Time for brownies,” Jacob
said. “I think I’m going to lay here a bit.”

“
I’ll get Blane,” Delphie
said. “He has to close up.”

Delphie held a hand out for Paddie and
another for Katy.

“
What did you throw into
the fire?” Delphie asked Paddie.

“
Salt,” Paddie said. “Katy
says it keeps me safe. Daddy says it makes me lucky. I carry it in
little packets because it’s yummy. That fire smelled like it could
use some salt.”

“
Indeed,” Delphie
laughed.

Delphie knocked on the door to the kitchen
and Blane appeared. If he was surprised to see Katy and Paddie, he
said nothing. Blane went in to attend to Jacob while Delphie
continued to the kitchen. The brownies were in the oven when Jacob
came into the kitchen.

“
Daddy!”

Katy ran to her father. Exhausted and pale,
Jacob held Katy to him.

“
Anything you want to tell
me?” Jacob asked.

“
No,” Katy
said.

Katy and Paddie laughed at her joke. Shaking
his head at the children, he laughed.

“
Brownie?” Delphie
asked.

“
I need to…”

Jill raced down the stairs and flew into his
arms. Before Jacob could respond, she was pulling him up the
stairs. She was almost out of the room when she spotted Katy.

“
Katy? You’re supposed to
be at Paddie’s house,” Jill said. “Paddie?”

“
Paddie’s Mommy is barfy,”
Katy said.

“
She got the barfies from
us,” Paddie said. “Daddy called and talked to some guy. The guy
said you were waiting for us in the front room.”

“
Oh,” Jill said. “Are you
staying the night?”

“
Just ‘til Mommy gets back
from the doctor,” Paddie said.

“
She had to go because
she’s barfy AND has a baby inside. Not like us,” Katy
said.

“
We don’t have a baby
inside,” Paddie said. Katy gave a solemn nod.

“
Can Paddie stay the
night?” Katy asked.

“
Let’s see how things are
a little later,” Jill touched Katy’s head. Turning to Delphie, she
said, “I need to get Jake into the bath.”

“
We’re making brownies,”
Katy said.

“
Delphie?”

“
We’re fine,” Delphie
said. “Jake needs to detox.”

“
Be your best girl,” Jill
said to Katy. “Delphie’s had a tough day.”

“
Yes Mommy,” Katy said.
The bell to the oven rang and Katy screamed, “Brownies!”

Katy’s scream brought Valerie. Jill helped
Jacob upstairs for another detox bath. She helped him to bed where
he finally slept.

“
How is he?” Delphie asked
when Jill came down.

“
Better,” Jill said.
“Mike’s with him now.”

“
Did you see any…?”
Delphie asked.

“
No,” Jill said. “Mama
says we have to keep an eye out but I think he’s clear. Did the
kids give you any trouble?”

Katy, Paddie, and Noelle were sitting in a
row at the kitchen table.

“
Not at all,” Delphie
said. “We’re making get well cards for Paddie’s mommy,
Jacob…”

“
And my Mom,” Noelle
beamed.

“
And Sandy,” Delphie
said.

“
And baby Rachel,” Valerie
said.

“
Mommy, look at mine!”
Katy jumped up to show Jill her crayon drawn cards. Jill took the
card from Katy and ‘oohed’ and ‘ahhed’.

“
Neither Sam nor Mike took
a call from Colin,” Jill said under her breath to Delphie. “Did
you?”

Delphie shook her head.

“
You think it was…” Jill
started

“
The creature?” Delphie
asked. “Yes, it lured the children here.”

Jill put her hands on Katy and then put them
on Paddie. For good measure, she checked Noelle. She shook her
head. It hadn’t affected them.

“
What would it want with
the children?” Jill asked.

“
What indeed,” Delphie
said.

~~~~~~~~

Monday evening — 5:45 P.M.

“
You’re sure he’s here?”
Heather asked.

Tanesha and Heather were sitting in plastic
chairs on either side of Sandy’s wheel chair. Heather held Mack on
her lap. They were sitting just outside the hospital’s surgery
center.

“
He’s right there,”
Tanesha said.

From their position across the wide, busy
hallway, they watched Dr. Cas Morgan come out of surgery and walk
down the hall.

“
He’s definitely cute,”
Heather said.

“
Cute and feisty,” Sandy
pointed to Dr. Morgan talking to a nurse.

“
What do you think?”
Tanesha asked.

“
Still feel the stomach
punch?” Heather asked.

Tanesha nodded.

“
I can’t tell if that’s
good or bad,” Sandy said. “Did you ask Delphie?”

“
No, I did not ask that
woman,” Tanesha said.

“
Didn’t want to know,”
Heather said.

They laughed. They watched Dr. Morgan walk
down the hall.

“
Are you talking about
that guy?” Ava asked. “Dr. Cas Morgan?”

The three women turned to look at the young
woman. She was watching Dr. Morgan. She was tall, thin, with a
Denver Police badge on her belt. She wore a dark blue jacket with
“Crime Scene Forensics” stenciled on the back over her long sleeved
T-shirt. Her long dark hair was pulled back in an efficient
ponytail. The women looked at each other.

“
Do you know him?” Sandy
asked.

Ava’s head jerked to look at Sandy. She
glanced at Heather and Tanesha.

“
Oh sorry,” Ava said. “I’m
Amelie. You’ve probably heard Seth call me Ava. He asked me to stop
by to bring Sandy a CD on my way into work. And… I couldn’t help
but overhear and…”

“
Heather,” Heather stood
up to shake Ava’s hand. “This is Mack.”

“
Tanesha.” Tanesha
followed suit. “Sandy can’t really get up. She’s supposed to be
resting.”

Sandy waved to Ava.

“
Do you know Dr. Morgan?”
Sandy asked.