Authors: Danielle DeVor
“Jesus Christ, do people do that?”
I nodded. “Very evil people, yes.”
Will sighed. He paused; his knuckles gripped tighter on the dashboard. “What about adultery?”
There it was, the admission I’d been waiting for. It accounted for Will’s attitude, it accounted for the tension between Will and Tor. What it didn’t account for was anything to do with Lucy. At least, it had nothing to do with Lucy being possessed.
I rubbed my chin with my fingers. “No, adultery does not cause a child to be possessed. Adultery will cause you to spend some years in purgatory to atone for your sins, but it does not cause demonic possession.”
I thought about it. If Lucy were older, it could be conceivably possible that Lucy could try to make believe something is wrong to get back at her parents for their problems, but possession is just something that doesn’t make a lot of sense in that scenario.
I felt like I was a bouncing ball, going back and forth between Lucy being possessed and the “logical” part of my brain questioning it. Maybe I didn’t want to admit Will was right. It didn’t matter though. My opinion wasn’t going to count. The proof is what we needed. And, maybe it was what I needed too. The truth was a few very insane people could pretend to be possessed to get attention, but their ruses would be discovered fairly quickly. What would Lucy gain by pretending to be possessed? I could come up with nothing. I guess I had to admit to myself that with everything that was going on, I did believe Lucy was possessed. Now, I just had to make the church believe.
“So, anything I did, didn’t cause Lucy to be like this?” Will asked.
“Not to my knowledge. The way I see it is that you stumbled on a house that Tor felt drawn to, possibly because it is so damn huge. Unfortunately, this house had a hidden past that your real estate agent really should have told you about before you bought the house. Then, something drew Lucy to the mirror. Even Tor admitted that.” I looked at Will. He was nodding. “So, I figure Lucy wanted to know if the mirror was black all the way through, or if it was just covered up, so she inadvertently released the thing, whatever it is and wherever it originally came from.”
Tears began to well up in Will’s eyes. “I love my little girl, Jimmy. I don’t want her to die.”
“I know, Will. I know.”
We pulled into the driveway of the house. I felt drained, but I think it was worth it. Will had gotten something huge off his chest. Honestly, he could use some therapy, and I’m sure Tor needed the same. Lucy needed a lot of things. I just wish I could give her the things she needed.
We stopped and unloaded everything from the car. Will paused and stared up at the sky.
“Looks like it might snow,” he said.
“Maybe.”
###
After dinner, Tabby and I washed dishes and Tor directed us where and how to put things away. I would like to have said it was because we were finally trusted, but I really think it’s because Tor felt so bad.
Her face was white and the corners of her mouth were pursed as if uncomfortable.
“I think I’m going to go to bed,” Tor said.
Tabby turned around from the sink. “Are you alright?”
Tor nodded. “Just hurting. I think I want to lay down for awhile. Get all that stuff as best you can. I don’t care anymore.”
We watched her go in silence.
“That’s not good,” Tabby said.
“No, it’s not, and after what I learned this afternoon, I’m not surprised.”
“Can you tell me about it?” she asked.
I shook my head. “It was never specified for me not to tell anyone else, but the subject matter alone makes it something I’d rather not talk about.”
Tabby nodded. “I think I can figure it out.”
“This is a very unhappy family.”
“Yeah. Too unhappy.”
###
I found Will in the living room. He was sitting alone, staring off into space. I knocked on the door jamb, Tabby close at my heels. “Mind if we come in?”
Will looked up. “Sure.”
Tabby and I walked in and sat down on the sofa. Will was nursing a beer. I could see the condensation dripping off the can and down onto the coaster.
“Tor went to bed,” Tabby said.
I rubbed my hand across the pile on the fabric of the sofa. “She said she was hurting, so she was going to go lay down.”
“I still can’t believe Lucy did that to her,” he said.
I believed Lucy did it. She’d almost knocked me off the ladder, brought in a soul sucker to come after Tabby, and I got hurt by said soul sucker. I had no trouble believing Lucy was capable of anything.
Will’s eyes narrowed. He must have figured my thoughts by his expression.
“It’s not that I don’t believe she actually did it,” he said. “It’s that I find it hard to believe that this is the same Lucy I’ve known for six years.”
“That’s the point, Will. Demons like to change the most beautiful things into the most profane things they can think of. I suppose, in a way, they do these things because they are not worthy of God’s love. If they make us like them, maybe they think God will no longer love us.”
I looked at Tabby. Her eyebrows were furrowed.
“Is it really so simple?” she asked.
I laughed. “Probably not, but it’s how I’ve always made myself understand it. I might be right, but my theories don’t mean much at all.”
“And if you’re wrong?” Will asked.
I took a breath. “Then I’m wrong. I wasn’t made perfect, and God doesn’t expect us to be perfect. Otherwise, there would be no reason for purgatory.”
“You should be a theologist,” Tabby said.
I shook my head. “It wouldn’t be the life for me. I like to help people. If I were a theologian, I would spend most of my time studying the word of God. I did that in seminary. God and I have a certain understanding. I believe in Him. I love Him, and I generally try to be a good person.”
“And what does God get?” Tabby asked.
I smiled. I couldn’t help it. I didn’t know what she was asking for, but I answered her as truthfully as I could. “He gets amused.”
###
“So who wants first watch?” Tabby asked.
It was almost midnight. It had been a long day, almost too long. Talking about religion always made me tired. “I guess I’ll take it. How are we going to do this?”
She smiled. “Two hour shifts. That way, we aren’t forcing each other to stay awake for hours on end.”
“All right, but after tonight, I’m finding us another option. We can’t keep working in shifts.”
Tabby paused. “Well, I could ward the library. Do spells that will make it so that the only people who can enter the library are those that wish no harm to come to anyone. If anything else tries to get past the ward, the ward will keep it from entering.”
“The ward on the room upstairs didn’t work. What makes you think this ward will work?”
Tabby scratched her head. “That room upstairs isn’t right. The difference is extreme. This library is a normal room in a completely un-normal house.”
“Okay.”
She glared at me. “You got better ideas?”
“No.” I felt sheepish. It wasn’t like I knew what I was talking about. I just knew from the minor experience in this house. Nothing seemed to work like it normally did, at least in terms of supernatural things. “At least it’s somewhere to start.”
She stared at me. “You make no sense, you know that?”
“How so?”
“Here we are, talking about me doing magic to keep us safe and yet you aren’t sure how an exorcism will work with a witch involved.”
I smiled. “It would help if I could understand your work, but I don’t understand a thing about it. I’ll be leaving you to your stuff, and I’ll do my best to get the church involved.”
“Whatever you say,” she said with a knowing smile.
“What do you need to ward a room?”
“Each ward is different. I think I have most of it. If not, I’ll go to the closest herbal store and get what I need. I think I about cleaned out Tor’s spice box the last time.”
“Is it going to be easy?” I asked.
“God, no, Jimmy. The materials are the easy part. Spellwork is where things get interesting.”
“Yeah, that’s where I leave you. I’ll take first watch. I’ll wake you in a couple hours.”
Tabby nodded. She hunkered down on her couch and went to sleep.
Nothing happened. We messed up our sleep for nothing, but honestly, I was relieved. I didn’t know if I had the strength to fight another one of those things, and I didn’t really want to find out.
###
Interestingly enough, I woke refreshed the next morning, even though I’d not had a lot of sleep. Maybe it was knowing that Tabby had something to try so that we could feel safe at night, or maybe it was that I was so damn tired. My sleep was a blessing. Either way, I knew it would be best to work with Lucy fully relaxed and energetic.
I looked around. Tabby wasn’t there; her blanket was folded neatly and draped over the back of the sofa.
I smiled when Tabby came into the library. She’d just gotten her shower, I could smell it. “Sleep okay?” I asked.
She put her stuff in her bag. “It was quiet. Almost too quiet if you know what I mean. I can’t help but wonder if this is the calm before something else happens.”
I laughed. “Or the beast is sated by Tor’s bloodshed.”
Tabby rolled her eyes. “Not funny, Jimmy.”
I shook my head. “I wasn’t being funny. So, do you need anything for your thingy?”
Tabby chuffed me on the arm. “I haven’t even had a chance to look, Mr. Smartypants. You are lucky I know you so well, otherwise I would have no idea what the Hell you are talking about.” She motioned with her hand towards the library door. “Go get your bath. We’ll tackle this after.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
###
When I walked into the library after my bath, I saw one Hell of a mess. “Um, what’s this?” I motioned towards the herbs scattered all over the floor. They were sort of arranged in piles. One looked a lot like basil, but there was a pile of brown stuff with stems, a pile of slightly brownish purple stuff, and a lot of piles of green powder.
Tabby smiled. “I’m in luck. Tor had just enough for me to do this.”
“Did you ask her if you could use them?” I asked her with a raised eyebrow.
She looked like she wanted to hurt me—bad. “Yes, you idiot. I didn’t come out of a cave you know.”
“How long is this going to take?” I asked.
“As long as it takes. Right now. I’m just organizing and figuring this out.”
I nodded.
“Why don’t you go in the kitchen with Tor? I know you haven’t had breakfast, and you’ll give Tor something to do.”
“Have you had breakfast?” I asked.
“I wanted to fast before I did this. Now go!” She stood up and pushed me towards the door.
Not wanting to irritate her any further, I went. I didn’t like leaving Tabby alone, but she hadn’t given me a choice. I wanted to help her, I really did, but I guess my questions and reactions were more irritating than helpful.