Ghouls Gone Wild (35 page)

Heath took the phone as Fergus yelled at us, “Why aren’t you helping me?!”

“I’m working on it!” I snapped, focusing back on the trunk of the tree.

“M. J.!” Heath said. “All the power just drained out of your cell! It’s dead!”

I snapped my head at him. “Son of a . . . !” There was no way to get to Gilley and tell him to turn off the gadget, and that meant that there might be little I could do to stop the witch from hurting Fergus. “John!” I said. “Head into those woods and see if you can find Meg and get her to tell Gilley to turn off the enhancer!”

John looked doubtfully toward the trees. “Which direction should I head?”

The night air was broken by yet another bloodcurdling scream. “I’d try there,” I told him, then turned to Heath. “I need you to get to the castle. If John can’t get to Meg in time, you’re the only person fast enough to reach Gilley before it’s too late!”

Without another word Heath bolted for the castle. John shoved half the magnetic spikes he’d been holding at the two men he was guarding and took off like a rocket. I pulled out a grenade and said to the witches, “Back off right now, Rigella, or I’m going to lock you into purgatory for good.”

The three black shadows were nearly on top of Fergus now. He was bent over and curled into as small a target as he could make himself. Rigella turned her shadowy form back to me and I heard her hiss menacingly. “Do not threaten me, lass!” she commanded.

I eased backward to stand right next to the tree as I held up my spike for her to see. Feeling my way along the bark I began hoping against hope that I was right. If Rigella and her sisters had died hanging from these branches, then Rigella’s portal was likely somewhere along the tree’s trunk. “It’s no threat,” I said. “It’s a promise.”

Her reaction was exactly what I was hoping for. Her eyes became large and wide and she and both her sisters charged me. As fast as I could, I pulled out another grenade and frantically began feeling around the trunk. About a second before her energy slammed into me, I found a cold spot on the tree—the distinctive mark of a portal—and jammed one of the spikes directly into it.

Rigella screamed and fell to the side as if I’d physically punched her. Her sisters stopped long enough to hover over her and that bought me a little more time. I began feeling around the base of the tree again and found another cold spot. I thrust the second spike deep into the trunk and the second sister cried out in agony. I felt for my belt as the third sister growled low and began to charge. I knew I didn’t have time to get a canister free and pull out a spike, so I yelled at the inspector, “Throw one to me!” He hesitated and I shouted again,
“Now, man!”

He tossed it, but he overshot the throw and the spike hit the tree way above my head then fell somewhere to the ground. In the dark I couldn’t find it and just as I was about to fall to my hands and knees to search for it, the spook hit me.

I flew backward, somersaulting over and over, my head hitting the hard ground and stars filling my vision. The ghost of Rigella’s sister was incredibly strong, and fueled by rage, she lifted me off the ground again and tossed me several feet away.

I landed in a heap, sputtering and coughing as the wind got knocked out of me. There was another raging scream and I looked up to see Rigella, getting to her feet again and eyeing me with deadly intent. Behind her Fergus was running as fast as his legs would carry him, and to my great dismay, both the inspector and the barrister were running after him . . . leaving me alone to face the Bitches of Eastwick.

 

 

 

There is a time to fight and a time for flight, and this time, I knew without a doubt, was a time to head for them thar hills.

I took off like a bat out of hell and didn’t stop, even after I felt the searing pain of all my stitches popping out, or the hot molten heat of the injury in my thigh being ripped open and the liquid sticky feeling as blood trickled down my pant leg.

For several tense seconds, I had no idea where I could run that could possibly be safe, but then an idea came to my panicked mind and I prayed that I’d make it there ahead of the sisters.

While I ran, I managed to tug loose one of the grenades, which would have less of an effect the closer I drew to my target, so I popped the top and held it above my head, hoping it would give me just enough of a magnetic field to make me a slightly less viable target.

I swept down the hill racing as fast as I’d ever run in my life, willing my feet to move faster and faster while my free arm pumped for all it was worth. I leaned slightly to my right and through another set of thin woods I could see a light shining like a beacon—as if it were calling me home.

Out the corner of my eye I could see a black shadow, edging closer and closer. I lowered the arm holding the spike and swung it toward the shadow. I heard a slight squeal and it peeled back a little.

“Get away from me!” I cried as I surged into the woods, narrowly missing a low branch and dodging the trunk of another tree. Branches scraped my hands and face, but I didn’t slow down. In fact, if anything, I think I was so scared I actually sped up.

Something clawed hard at my shoulder, but I tore free while a searing pain raked across my collarbone. “You bitch!” I yelled, and kept going, finally bursting through the trees. The little house was only a hundred yards away, but I was breathing hard and my pace had finally slowed. Another shadow appeared on my left and I switched hands holding the spike and swung out at it right before something grabbed my hair and nearly pulled me to the ground.

With all the remaining strength I could muster, I lurched forward, feeling several strands yank out, and I managed to keep running. My breath was so loud and so heavy that I realized I was gasping, but I had to keep going. I had to make it!

I took two more gulps of air and shouted,
“Katherine!”

Nothing happened and I strained to see in through the window with the light on.

“Kaaaaaaaatheriiiiiiine!”
I cried for all I was worth.

An instant later the door burst open and she stood there along with someone else. Both figures appeared quite startled as I sprinted toward them.
“Help me!”
I pleaded.

And just like I’d hoped, Katherine held up her hand as I approached, and shouted, “Stop!”

I of course kept running, but the shadows next to me peeled off. I reached her porch in four more strides and collapsed on the ground at her feet, panting hard and totally out of breath. “What is going on?” she demanded when I hugged her leg.

I pointed behind me, and stared up at her. “Send . . . them . . . back!” I rasped.

Katherine looked over my head, and I knew she could see the three distantly related ancestors. “I did not call them forward,” she said simply. She then turned to the woman at her side and asked, “Will you end this now, Rose?”

I turned around and sat up, trying to catch my breath and barely able to do much more than that. Rose stood next to Katherine looking terrible. Her face was ashen and her eyes were huge and there was such guilt in her eyes. “I don’t know how,” she cried.

I held up a finger to get her attention. “I . . . might . . . know,” I said, pausing as I took two more heaving breaths and called out, “Isla! Isla McKay! I command you to appear!”

In the wink of an eye a mist formed about ten feet from us, and through that mist we could clearly see the white outline of a woman. “Have you seen me babe?” she asked.

I nodded. “She’s right here.” I pointed up to Rose. “This is Roisinn,” I told her, struggling to my feet.

Isla looked terribly confused and shook her head. “She’s not me babe.”

I turned to Rose and asked, “What’s your name, honey?”

Rose hesitated, but a nod from her aunt seemed to convince her to play along. “My name is Roisinn McKay,” she said.

By now I’d gotten command over my breathing again and said calmly, “You missed her growing up, Isla. Roisinn has become a young lady now.”

Again, Isla looked terribly confused. “I don’t understand,” she said to me, and turned to her sisters for an explanation.

Before they could communicate anything, however, I said, “You died giving her life, Isla. That’s why you missed her growing up. She’s lived her life and moved forward in this, the world of the living, while you’ve been looking for her all these years.”

“I’ve . . .
died
?!”

I nodded firmly, and was grateful that Katherine did the same. “Your restless spirit has been wandering these hills for some time, love,” Katherine said. “And your pain has kept your dear sisters restless and in search of vengeance.”

Isla gasped anew. Turning an accusing stare at the three dark shadows hovering nearby, Isla asked, “Is this true, Rigella?”

If there were words exchanged, we could not hear them, but we could all watch Isla’s reaction, and to my great relief she appeared horrified. “You must stop!” she demanded. “Rigella! Dera! Firtha! You must
not
continue this!”

Behind the three sisters, over two dozen new silhouettes appeared. There were a little over thirty souls gathered and three of them I recognized: Joseph Hill, Jack McLaren, and Cameron Lancaster. When Cameron appeared, I heard Rose emit a small cry, and I looked up to see tears leaking down her face and she whispered, “Oh, Camey! I’m so sorry!”

Isla also caught sight of the souls behind her and she stepped away from her three sisters, recoiling in horror. “Rigella!” she shouted accusingly. “This is not our way! You’ve
murdered
these poor souls?! It’s against everything we stand for! Everything
you
stand for! Our mission has never been for ill! It has always been for healing! For
preserving
life!”

Rigella’s shadowy face became more humanlike and her expression showed uncertainty for the first time. Rose must have caught it too, because she said, “Aye, me aunts. Me mum is right. I’ve learned what terrible things can happen when you’re consumed with vengeance. It’s time for you to undo this wretched curse, and let the blood you’ve taken be penance enough for those lives of your clan taken by that mob.”

I watched the witches carefully. Either the three sisters were going to listen, or they weren’t. And if they didn’t, then we’d all likely pay for it. I felt a hand then on my left shoulder and I turned my head to see Sam Whitefeather standing right next to me. I was far too stunned to do anything but gape at him, and he merely smiled and nodded toward Isla.

A light, bright and pure, appeared above her head, and I knew exactly what it represented. And beyond her thirty-one more lights appeared and hovered over the lost souls on the grass behind the sisters. Slowly they lowered toward each individual, and Isla seemed to be aware that she was running out of time, because she pulled her hands up in a prayer and begged her sisters, “Please! I don’t want to leave here without you! Make peace with these souls now and move along with all of us!”

And then, something in the ether shifted. The black shadows lost their inky richness and lightened to a more gray appearance. Rigella spoke, and her voice rang loudly across the grass. “We shall consider it penance enough, Isla, and we ask for peace among those against whom we’ve taken our vengeance.” An instant later, three balls of white light appeared above Rigella and her two sisters, and in the next moment all the figures on the lawn disappeared in an intense burst of light, and the shadows that were zipping through the forests vanished, and the night became still and calm and oddly peaceful.

I got up and limped over to a nearby chair where I eased myself down. I was exhausted and the back of my thigh hurt something fierce. Heath, Gilley, Gopher, and Kim showed up a few minutes later as Katherine was bringing me a hot cup of tea. “Are you okay?” Heath asked, squatting down next to me. I could see he carried spikes in both hands, and Gilley still held tightly to his fire extinguisher.

“You know,” I told him, “all things considered, I’m just ducky.”

 

Fergus Ericson was apprehended by the inspector shortly after running into his house and trying to hide under his bed. Meanwhile, the barrister we’d hired for Gilley and Gopher assured me that they would both have their passports returned to them in the morning.

Meg finally called Gilley to see what was happening. She’d lost her headset in the woods, and she’d also lost sight of Jeff and Shelly. We had no idea what’d happened to them, but I had an intuitive feeling that they’d made it out of the woods okay and they were probably done checking out the local ghost tours.

We also made sure to retrieve the dog from Fergus’s car, which happened to belong to one of his neighbors. He’d taken it without her permission from her backyard. Luckily, the old mutt hadn’t experienced anything more traumatic than a car ride, a short walk and a nap on a lumpy old pillow.

Rose went into labor that very evening. In fact, she’d been having contractions most of that evening, and before she went to the hospital, she wanted to confess all to her aunt and apologize. That’s why she’d been at Katherine’s.

Early the next morning, Rose gave birth to a baby girl she named Camille. We heard later that, given the fact that Fergus admitted to hearing them scuffle and finding her a moment later with a bruised lip and holding a frying pan, she was unlikely to spend any time in jail for his murder, as it was a clear case of self-defense.

Fergus Ericson would not be that lucky. While we were on another bust some months later, Gilley read that he got forty years to life for killing Joseph Hill.

Heath and I spent a little time cleaning up the area, going back for several nights in a row to help those grounded spirits we’d found hanging from the tree and in the woods cross over. It was exhausting work, but it was worth it, and we got some really fantastic footage out of it for
Ghoul Getters
.