Authors: Enrique Laso
Ana got up and, without asking, went to a chest of drawers, took out a cigarette and lit up. As she took the first few puffs, she stood with her back to Elena and looking out of the sizable window.
"I understand. What I don't know is how far he got in his search," she declared, blowing out a long trail of smoke.
"Not too far, that's why I'm here," replied Elena, who suddenly and instinctively, started fearing for her own safety. This was something entirely out of her control and unrelated to any logical train of thought.
"Carlos wanted to know more about his wife. Not that he paid much attention to her while she was alive, which, I think, is why he came to see me."
"And what did you tell him?"
"You probably know that already. You have the last notes he wrote..."
"It's all very confusing," the parapsychologist sighed.
"I told him that I thought Laura had ended Alicia's life. I also told him that the girl had been threatening to kill her mother, and that she surely wanted to see them both in a casket."
"Do you really believe that?"
"That's what Alicia told me. She was genuinely scared, and Laura's behaviour during her last few months was really strange."
Once again, Elena tried to calm down by watching the kids that were playing in the garden, but a terrifying vision distracted her attention. In the enormous glass pane she could see the reflection of the architect's face, but it was not the features of a human being that she was looking at: instead, what she could see was a sort of buffalo skull, twisted and blackened. She felt that the terror that had been building up inside her was now overpowering her.
"And she accepted it, just like that" she stuttered.
"Yes. By then she was ready to accept nearly anything at all."
Elena realised that the other woman had noticed the state of emotional tension she was in. She seemed to enjoy the situation while she smoked, her back always turned to Elena. To get away from the terrible vision the window had revealed to her, she looked towards some shelves. There was a strange figure she had not noticed earlier: a human torso with a ram's head, that held a newborn in its powerful arms. The ram's head was crowned by a kind of golden circlet. The effigy had, at first, seemed familiar, but she didn't identify it right away, but as soon as she did, she slipped into an uncontrollable panic. It was, undoubtedly, the god Moloch, to whom children were offered in sacrifice.
"Well, I think I have taken up enough of your time already. I should go now," said the parapsychologist, who could no longer control the tremor in her voice or her shaking hands.
Ana turned around to face her. Although her face was once again that of a normal person, her expression showed malice and satisfaction.
"I'd like to show you something, now that we're getting to know each other better."
Elena did not hesitate, she just run away from the place and didn't stop running until she was on the street, beside her car. She drove recklessly until she felt she'd put a sufficiently safe distance between her and that flat. She was still terrified, but she knew she should call Andrés, who had her location through her Smartphone. And yet, she decided to call someone else first.
"Father Salas?"
"Elena? What's wrong, you sound very upset."
"I think... I think I've found an important clue. I think we have to meet as soon as possible to talk about this."
"Of course. But calm down, I beg you. Whatever it is, we'll find a solution."
"I hope so. I'm scared to death," said the parapsychologist, who could hardly stop herself sobbing.
"But tell me, what happened to leave you in such a state?" asked Father Salas, who spoke slowly and deliberately, in an effort to calm the woman.
"I think I've just had a meeting with Satan himself!"
F
ather Salas had decided that, once again, the best place to meet Esteban and Elena was the altar of a church. It was a safe place not just for him, but also for the other two. He wasn't really worried about Esteban: the man was so pious that he was sure the Evil One would never dare tempt him. But the parapsychologist, she was another story. She was in real danger.
"What you tell us about that woman's reflection in the glass is very interesting.
- Often mirrors can reveal a hidden reality," mused the priest, as he thought of the image he himself could see whenever he looked at his own reflection.
"It's been a horrendous experience. I was paralysed with fear. But as soon as I saw the figurine of Moloch on the living room shelf I knew I had to get out of there as fast as I could."
"You did the right thing, Elena. We've finally found the missing piece. We certainly haven't completed the puzzle, but at least we have all the pieces."
"But, Father, what does all this mean?" asked Esteban, who felt somewhat lost, and very unproductive, in the midst of all this confusion.
"Putting together what we had known intuitively and what we have already proved, I think I can venture a hypothesis. And I don't think you are going to like it, my friend."
"Nothing scares me now, you know that. And I need to know the truth. I'm beginning to speak like Carlos..."
"I think Alicia was looking depressed to her friends, because of her husband and her getting further apart, physically and emotionally. I gather that Ana belongs to some satanic cult or similar group, and that she offered Alicia a solution: she could recover her husband's love and attention by sacrificing her daughter's soul."
"It's a horrible theory," said Elena, who was still affected by the experience she'd had in the architect's flat.
"I know. But a desperate person may not be thinking properly and can be dragged towards options that look, to us who consider them from a completely rational point of view, completely aberrant. I have lived through cases that even now, with all the experience I've had, I cannot quite take in," stated Father Salas, turning his eyes to the image of Christ on the cross.
"So... Alicia gave the soul of my granddaughter to the Underworld in order to get back Carlos's attention?" asked Esteban, perplexed.
"Everything seems to point in that direction. I understood it as soon as I came to this altar the day Carlos took his own life. Now we have more proof. What's more, I think Laura realised all this, which is why she threatened her mother. She understood how dangerous Alicia was."
"I can't believe my daughter-in-law could do anything of the kind..."
"It's possible, Esteban. The Bible itself, as well as other religious books, are full of sacrifices, which often included their own children. But I believe that Alicia, at some point, could see the mistake she'd made, and tried to undo it."
"What makes you say that?" asked Elena, who couldn't take off her mind the abominable face she'd seen reflected in the window.
"Because she must have carried out a ritual to sacrifice Laura's
soul
, but not her earthly life. It's the Devil's trick: you think you aren't actually giving
anything
up. Excuse the analogy, but it's a bit like paying with a credit card. Until we get the bill at the end of the month, we are not aware that we've actually spent any money."
Esteban was pacing back and forth, uncomfortable and desperate, trying to take in the horrific version of all that had happened up to that point.
"In that case, was the car accident a suicide?"
"No, no, not at all. I think Alicia tried to undo the ritual, and that condemned her. The Evil One didn't forgive that act of rebellion and found a way to get the little one's soul, taking her by force. Hence the possession and the stalking Laura was subjected to in her last few months of life."
"It's so sick!" exclaimed Esteban, hanging his head as he massaged his temples. He felt his brain was about to burst into a million pieces.
"But, Father Salas, can we really still do anything for all of them?"
Again, the priest sought Jesus's face on the cross. Fear had not just vanquished his companions. He himself had fallen under its poisonous influence.
"I think Alicia is condemned forever. Making a pact with the Devil and then betraying him were her decisions. But it is possible to try and save Laura's and Carlos's souls from eternal condemnation."
"And what is it exactly that we should do?"
Father Salas walked to the parapsychologist and held her lightly by the shoulders. He felt her skin was clammy, as if blood had ceased running through the woman's veins and arteries.
"I have to begin a very complex exorcism, and for that reason I will have to stay here, by this altar, for the duration. Esteban will bring me his son's and granddaughter's things, but I need you to do me a great favour."
"I'm waiting for your instructions," whispered Elena, when what she really wanted to do was to run away and never stop running away, for years on end, from that abhorrent reality she'd walked into.
"Please find, among Alicia's possessions, the ritual by which she gave her daughter to the Evil One."
D
espite their apprehension, Andrés, Elena and Rodrigo were in the room where Carlos had locked every single thing related to his wife.
"We must find a notebook, a piece of paper, I don't really know... Something written, describing a ritual to make a deal with the Devil" exclaimed the parapsychologist, putting a shaky hand on her brow.
"So, we're looking for something but we don't really know what it is and we don't even know for sure that it even exists or that it was ever in this room," summarised Rodrigo, wearily.
"According to Father Salas, she must have had the instructions written down somewhere. It's not an easy thing, it's not like you hear it once and can remember it just like that."
"Ok, let's suppose that was the case. Do you really think she'd keep it among her things?" asked Andrés.
"It's very likely. According to the priest, she tried to break the deal, which suggests she still had the means to do so."
"But there are dozens of boxes and books and pieces of paper and notebooks here!" Rodrigo exclaimed, as he kicked the wardrobe.
Elena held her breath and tried to relax before she spoke again. She knew that what she had to say was not going to be well received by her companions, because she did not like it herself.
"Actually, we have a sort of compass, a
sensor
, that will let us gauge how close we are to finding the document."
"I don't know what you mean, can you try and be a bit clearer, please?" muttered Andrés, who could sense something unpleasant behind his friend's words.
"Alicia..."
"Alicia?"
"Her... her spirit, her presence will try to prevent us from getting that document..."
"How?"
"The closer we get to it, the angrier she'll get, and she'll let us know"
"I'm out of here!" cried Andrés, and he started walking to the corridor.
"You can't leave me alone. If the three of us stay together, we'll do it. We are stronger. Also, Father Salas gave me this so we can anoint ourselves with it," said the parapsychologist, producing a small bottle with a clear liquid inside.
"What on earth is that? Holy water? For fuck's sake, Elena, that
thing
pisses on holy water!"
"I'm staying here with Elena," declared Rodrigo solemnly. "You do as you wish, but I'm not going to leave her at this point, when she needs us most."
Andrés went back to where he'd been, downcast. His colleague had convinced him in a second. After all, Elena's friend, the one who'd been working with her for years, was him. How could he fall so low as to leave her high and dry at the most difficult point of her life?
"All right. At least I'll be in good company in the Underworld," he joked, partly to defuse the emotional tension, partly to give himself courage.
"Thank you, Andrés," Elena whispered.
"Go on, pass that holy water, I'll have a proper shower with it. It might even work."
The three of them started searching in silence. Each one took a different area: Andrés was looking inside the wardrobe, Rodrigo searched among the myriad of papers and photographs that were lying on the floor while Elena opened boxes and examined their contents.
"Am I the only one who's noticed a drop in temperature?" said Rodrigo, after ten minutes of intense work.
"No, I've noticed it too," replied Elena, without looking up from the notebook she had in her hands.
"Should I bring in the equipment?" suggested Andrés.
"No way! Let's keep going. We're on the right track," decided the parapsychologist.
Not five minutes later, the room started to shake, as if the flat was the epicentre of a low-intensity earthquake.
"Fuckin' hell!" exclaimed Rodrigo.
"This is the
compass
Elena was talking about." "I think what we need right now is a seismograph and a good helmet," added Andrés, who had feared something like this would happen.
The parapsychologist did not heed their comments or the cracking walls. She'd just found a small book with a black cover, in the centre of which there was a golden pentagram.
"Elena, this is getting seriously scary, we've gotta get out of here!" cried Rodrigo.
The door had slammed shut and the books, papers and photos that had been lying on the floor were now flying about the room, as if caught up in a hurricane. Many objects were hitting the parapsychologist on the head or on her back, but she could not feel anything: she was deep in concentration, reading a page marked by a tiny fold in a corner.
"Elena, let's get out of here, right now!"
She made a gesture, as if the increasing shaking and the flying stuff did not bother her in the least.
"We got it! We got it! Gotcha! Now
I
curse
thee
!"
Andrés and Rodrigo dragged Elena out. She was clutching the little black book and she howled as if possessed. Between them, both men barely managed to open the door and run out of Carlos's flat, carrying Elena by her shoulders and her legs. By the time they reached the street, the three of them were exhausted, bruised and covered in a fine dust veneer.