How To Recognize A Demon Has Become Your Friend (Necon Modern Horror Book 9) (3 page)

“I’ve got to see with my own eyes
that she’s not dead,” Brenda said loudly.

“But, Brenda–”

“I’m not leaving until I see
her.” Brenda crossed her arms and sat back in the chair.

A doctor pulled Larry aside.
After they talked, Larry waved the girls over. “The doctor said you can see her
for one minute. That’s all. Even though she’s unconscious she can still hear
us, so no tears. Okay?”

“Okay,” they both said at the
same time.

All three followed a nurse to the
intensive care ward. “Only two at a time,” she said.

“You girls go ahead. I’ll wait
here,” Larry said.

After they put on a gown and
mask, the nurse took them to her bed. “Just one minute,” she said, pulling the
curtain around the bed.

“Grandmom?” Brenda whispered.

She was hooked up to all kinds of
tubes and monitors. A wall of machines blinked and beeped on the other side of
the bed. The air was a suffocating blanket of pine cleaner and ammonia.

Brenda reached through the wires
and tubes to touch her face. “I love you, Grandmom.”

“Me too,” Angelique said,
caressing the back of her hand. “We saw the snakes. We’re going to make a
special gris-gris for you. To help you get better.”

Brenda looked at Angelique, then
back at her grandmother. “We’ll make the best healing gris-gris ever when we
get back to the house.”

Her eyelids fluttered, but her
eyes didn’t open.

“Stay with us, Grandmom,” Brenda
said.

The nurse pulled the curtain
open. “We have to let her rest now, girls.”

Outside the room, Larry said,
“Let’s get you two home.”

Once they were back at the house,
Larry said, “Call me on my cell phone if you need anything. I’ll be back in a
few hours. Will you be all right by yourself? I can have someone look in on
you.”

“Daddy, we’ll be fine. Go ahead.”
Brenda gave him a hug and kiss.

“We’ll take care of each other,”
Angelique said, hugging him.

After he got in the car and drove
away, the girls ran to their bedroom. Brenda emptied her box onto the bed.

“Do you think it’s Mrs. Johnston
doing bad magic against Grandmom?” Angelique asked.

“Maybe, if somewhere in her crazy
mind she decided Grandmom had done something against her. I can’t imagine
anyone else wanting to hurt her,” Brenda spread out the ribbons, rocks and
pieces of glass and metal from the box.

“This is all junk.” She took a
handful and threw it onto her pillow. “Nothing good enough to help her.”

“Then we’ve got to find better
things. Grandmom must have good stuff in her room, don’t you think?” Angelique
asked.

“Yes, but–”

“We’re doing this for her.”
Angelique grabbed Brenda’s arm. “Come on.”

They entered her bedroom. A sweet
scent, like roses, filled the air. Brenda pulled the thick, white curtains
closed and turned on the light. Angelique stood near the dark wood bed. There was
a hot ripple in the air, like the wake of a boat in water. “Do you feel that?”

Brenda lifted her hand to the
air. “Yes.” An edge of blue suede peeked out from under the bed. “What is
this?” Brenda picked up the small bag. “Grandmom’s nation bag. She always
carries it. Why would she leave it here?”

“I don’t know.” Angelique laid
the bag on the middle of the bed. “But maybe we can use it.”

Angelique opened the closet and
mix of earthy scents floated into the air. They found a wood cabinet in the
closet with jars and boxes of herbs, roots, and powder.

“This is strong magic stuff,”
Brenda said.

“Good. That’s what we need.”

“This is too much for us.” Brenda
backed out of the closet.

Angelique grabbed Brenda’s arm.
“We can’t have any doubt. You taught me that.” Angelique slowly moved her open
hands over the containers, letting her light guide her. She kept the image of
her grandmother healthy in her mind. When the center of her palm tingled
intensely she picked up a jar. She handed three jars to Brenda.

One had the word ‘John root’
written on its label. The other two had designs drawn on their labels.

“We’ll do it here.” Angelique
said.

“How do you know those are the
right things?” Brenda said.

Angelique took her hand; they
touched each item together. “You see. They feel right.”

Brenda nodded.

“We need to do a spell of
protection, then make the gris-gris. I’ll be right back.” Brenda rushed out of
the room.

Angelique waited in the middle of
the room. There was a quick movement in the corner. When she turned her head,
there was nothing there. Each time she blinked something fluttered in the air,
just out of her vision. Her heart beat faster. It took all her strength not to
run out of the room. She opened her mouth to call Brenda, but closed her eyes
instead. Whatever it was, it couldn’t or wouldn’t touch her.

She stood still until Brenda
returned with a paper bag. Brenda emptied the bag on the floor. There were five
different color candles, matches, chalk, a pair of scissors and a can of beer.
She pulled a piece of red flannel and ribbon from her pocket.

“For the spell of protection,”
Brenda said. “Do you remember how it’s made?”

Angelique nodded, took a pillow
off the bed, placed it on the floor and put her grandmother’s nation bag on the
pillow. “This is Grandmom.”

They drew a chalk circle around
the pillow and placed the candles on the edge of the circle. Angelique opened
one of the jars with a pattern on it and sprinkled a few grains of the black
powder in between the candles.

“To keep her safe,” Angelique
said.

Brenda laid the six-inch square
of red flannel on the floor. Angelique held a pen over the material without
touching it, then after a few seconds drew a pattern on the material. Brenda
wrote their grandmother’s name nine times on a piece of paper. Angelique laid a
piece of John root in the paper, sprinkled the brown powder from the other jar
on it and folded the paper up. They tied it close; each took turns tying a knot
in the ribbon.

Brenda opened the beer. Angelique
dipped her finger in the can and dripped beer on the gris-gris to feed it. They
placed it on the pillow next to the nation bag. Brenda lit the candles while
her cousin dribbled a little beer in her hands and threw it in each corner of
the room. They sat on the floor, held hands and watched the candles burn.
Shadows slid and jumped in the corners like trapped animals.

“Whatever you are, you have to
leave this house,” Angelique said.

Shadows crawled up the walls. The
candles’ flames jerked back and forth. A crunching sound, like mice chewing
paper came from under the bed. Brenda peeked under the bed, but saw nothing.

“It’s time to go away and leave
our Grandmother alone.” Brenda pushed light from deep inside. Warm yellow
light, like melted butter, dripped from her hands and feet.

Angelique saw Brenda’s light and
gathered stillness inside and pushed out. Gold light from her hands and feet
mixed with Brenda’s light and pooled on the floor around them. They stared at
the candles.

Their light streamed to the dark
corners. Obscure shapes twisted up the wall, away from the girls’ light.

A giggle snapped in the air above
them. They looked up for one second, into each other’s eyes. In a blink, they
were sitting in a field of daisies. A warm summer breeze bounced over the
flowers and caressed their faces. The setting sun filled the sky with streaks
of blue, purple and white.

They were two other girls,
holding one flower. They took turns pulling a petal off.

“He loves me,” one girl sang.

“He loves me,” the other girl
chanted back.

When the last petal was pulled
the girls fell into each other’s arms laughing.

Angelique and Brenda plummeted
through a dark tunnel and were back in their Grandmother’s bedroom.

“What — what was that?”
Angelique asked, gulping for air.

“I think that was Grandmom and
— “ Brenda shuddered. “ — and Mrs. Johnston.”

“How could that be?” Angelique
asked.

“I don’t know. Grandmom never
said anything about them knowing each other when they were younger. Maybe it’s
a trick.”

 
Angelique shook her head. “That felt
true. Something happened between them, something that made her hate Grandmom.”

“I don’t care what happened. I
won’t lose Grandmom,” Brenda said. “Look–they’re coming back. This was
just something to stop us.”

The shadow things had leaked back
down the walls as the girls’ light dissipated.

“No more tricks, true or not.”
Brenda concentrated on the candles again. She took deep, slow breaths to calm
down.

Angelique held Brenda’s hands and
did the same. The light flowed again from them, at first in a steady stream and
then a rushing torrent as they kept one purpose in mind: to rescue their
grandmother. Sounds echoed above them: giggles, singing, small feet jumping up
and down. No matter what they heard they kept their eyes on the dancing flames.
Gold light filled the floor and lapped up the walls. They didn’t even look up
when the crying started, a little girl wailing deeply.

The shadows on the ceiling curled
in on themselves, wept down the walls to the floor and faded away. The girls
watched the candles burn until they were so tired they couldn’t keep their eyes
open. The shadows and sounds didn’t return.

“It’s gone.” Angelique put out
the candles. “We’ll take the gris-gris and nation bag to her tomorrow.”

Calm quiet surrounded them.
Brenda nodded.

They put the pillow back, picked
up the candles, swept the powder and chalk into the paper bag, and went back to
their room. Too tired to eat, they fell asleep and didn’t hear Larry come in.

He woke them in the morning to
take them to the hospital.

Once there, the doctor told them
that she was out of intensive care but still being watched. She hadn’t regained
consciousness, but her vital signs were stable. The girls looked at each other,
smiling.

The nurse took the girls to her
room while Larry talked to the doctor.

She wasn’t hooked up to as many
machines as the day before. Brenda kissed her hand.

“We made a gris-gris for you,
Grandmom. Angelique and I did it together.”

Angelique took the charm out of
her pocket, placed it in her grandmother’s left hand, and held it.

“And we found your nation bag.”
Brenda placed the bag in her grandmother’s right hand. “We did the biggest
magic we knew, Grandmom.”

“We did it because we love you
and want you back,” Angelique said.

Brenda jumped. “She squeezed my
hand.”

Their grandmother’s eyes opened
and she smiled.

Brenda leaned forward to hug her,
but stopped as another face floated over their grandmother’s face.

“You my girls, my shiny light,” a
familiar voice said.

The face smiled with broken
teeth.

“Get out!” Brenda said, trying to
pull away from her tight grip.

Mrs. Johnston laughed. “Why
should I? You play, let me in. I’m staying now. You mine.”

 
“Oh no.” Angelique said. She finally saw
how this happened. The magic they practiced in the house must have made an
opening in Grandmom’s protection. “It was us. We let her in.”

Horror flashed on Brenda’s face.

“No!” Brenda said. Light shot out
of her free hand and poured over Grandmom.

“That’s right, give me your
light, my shiny key.”

Angelique pushed light out of her
hands but none came out.

“Not yet, my sweet. Later, there’ll
be time for you and me later,” the face over Grandmom’s said.

Angelique’s light and voice was
locked inside. She could do nothing except watch Mrs. Johnston absorb Brenda’s
light. The old woman’s body laid over their grandmother’s like a gelatinous blanket,
getting thicker each second.

“Grandmom, help me,” Brenda
whispered, stumbling against the bed.

“She can’t help you now. I got
her nice and tight. Soon she be gone, then we have a good time,” Mrs. Johnston
said, her body filling out, the spectral skin stretching.

Angelique prayed inside, wanting
to close her eyes, but could not.

Brenda’s lips moved, but no
sounds came out, tears streamed down her face.

“Mommy,” Brenda blurted out. The
gold light traveling from her to Mrs. Johnston turned lighter in color; green
light streaked its edges. Brenda suddenly remembered a picture of her mother in
a silk gown that same color green. It was her mother’s favorite color.

“Help me, Mommy.”

“Stop that.” Mrs. Johnston
twisted back and forth as the green light increased, pulling from Brenda’s arms
and chest. “Stop, stop, stop...” Her body inflated larger like a balloon.

Angelique snapped loose from her
control, and staggered away from the bed. When she took a step towards Brenda,
a soft voice whispered in her ear, ‘wait’. Angelique took one step towards
Brenda. The voice pleaded gently, ‘stay here, it will be alright’. The voice
was like her mother’s but softer. In her heart she could feel it wasn’t Mrs.
Johnston. Brenda stood taller, her eyes closed, her mouth moving silently as if
she was calmly talking to someone.

The outline of Mrs. Johnston’s
body thinned as the green light filled her form and spiked out in fine lines to
the walls. She changed into a two-headed dog, but still the light stabbed
through her, the dog’s mouth open in an unuttered howl. A huge snake coiled
over their grandmother’s body, the light slicing through it in rings. The snake
shape changed into a gigantic bird, snapping at the lines of light penetrating
its body. No matter what she became the green light continued eating holes in
her form. Mrs. Johnston returned to a human shape, slowly deflating.

“You shoulda been mine,” she said
in a tiny voice, before the aspect of her body slid to the floor and
disappeared.