Authors: Starla Silver
“I hope those stones hold,” muttered Melinda.
“I think I’ll just go put these books away now,” said Emily, holding a hefty stack in her hand. She scurried up the stairs, stopping at a nearby shelf on the second floor.
“She’s in complete denial,” Melinda worried. She turned her attention to the incantation. “So what do I need to make this work, William?”
“Your brothers, I’m afraid. Your power is not enough. This spell requires a lot of magic.”
“I’ll call them again.” She darted across the room to locate her cell phone, which she had dropped behind Emily’s desk earlier. “Damn! I broke it. Stepped on it and it’s crushed.”
Electric pulses struck the walls inside the spirit’s prison. The thwacks of energy getting louder and faster. Melinda slowly turned around. The spirit was crashing up against the sides with increasing speed. The three stones began to shake, causing its fiery walls to vibrate.
“They’re not going to hold,” Melinda determined, stepping closer.
Sparks flew into the air.
The energy field imprisoning the spirit radiated brightly, expanding like a balloon.
William flung his body in front of Melinda, shielding her. It was not necessary though as the only remnant from the burst was a curtain of light that melted like falling snow.
Melinda gasped.
In the next instant, her dream unraveled before her eyes. She looked upstairs and saw Emily standing in front of a bookshelf, holding a book. The spirit flew full speed toward her.
The ring worked, repelling the spirit from taking over Emily’s body.
The spirit attempted to find a way in but could not. A white film surrounded Emily’s hand, the ring on her finger vibrating. Emily batted at the spirit with a book, which did nothing but wisp through its body. She dropped the book, at the same time, screaming in pain.
“Don’t take off the ring!” William shouted.
Emily started screaming louder. “It’s burning me!”
William flew up the stairs.
The ring smoldered, burning Emily’s finger, threatening to burn her entire hand.
William, realizing the risk, slipped the ring off her finger with ease, leaving behind a perfectly burned mark where the ring had been.
Melinda started up the stairs when the front door flew open and her brothers came running in.
“Melinda!” shouted Charlie, relieved to see her.
“Emily!” Michael called out, panic-stricken.
“I’m up here, Michael,” Emily responded despondently.
They were too late.
In that moment, the spirit surged straight through William and engulfed Emily’s body, draping it in streams of white. William had no choice but to let go of Emily as the spirit took control of her body.
“The spell, Melinda!” William commanded, returning to her side in a flash.
Melinda raced to her brothers.
“What’s going on?” Charlie and Michael asked at once.
“Just say this spell with me! It’s the only way to save Emily.”
“Wait!” a voice boomed from upstairs. “Please, let me speak!”
It was Emily’s mouth that moved, but not her voice that spoke. It was a familiar voice though. One none of the Howard siblings dare believe they had heard.
CHAPTER TEN
“I am sorry for frightening you, and hurting Emily, but this is the only way in which I can speak with you. I would never intentionally hurt the woman my son loves.”
“Mom?” Michael uttered, barely audibly.
Melinda covered her mouth, gasping.
Charlie stepped forward; he still did not believe it.
William’s head tilted to one side, and he stared into Emily’s eyes, looking as equally perplexed as the siblings.
Emily’s possessed body climbed down the stairs.
“I am sorry,” their mother said again. “I realize this is a shock. I have spent years trying to contact you and only recently did I learn that Emily was a vessel. I knew it might be my only chance.” She now stood in front of them.
“Catherine,” William confirmed. “If I had tears…” he held his hand up to his lifeless heart.
Charlie, Michael and Melinda rushed forward, wrapping themselves around each other, and Emily’s body.
“I’m so sorry, Mom,” Melinda cried. “I thought you were evil.”
“It’s okay My Sweet Girl. You could not have known. Although, I was getting a bit desperate there at the end.”
Melinda had not been called ‘My Sweet Girl’ in so long she had nearly forgotten what it sounded like.
“Why are you here?” Charlie asked astonished by what he was seeing. “That came out wrong. I mean, it’s just…”
“Is Dad here too?” Michael interrupted.
Their mother, Catherine Howard, backed away.
“No. Your father is not here. But your father is why I am here. I could not move on until I had told you.”
“Told us what?” Charlie asked.
She closed her eyes and spoke the words she had longed to say since her death.
“I waited for your father’s spirit, believing that we had died together, but his spirit never joined me. I believe that your father is still alive.”
No one spoke. Each completely stunned by this revelation.
William was first to break the silence. It was the first time they had ever heard him speak with such awe. “Catherine, you are telling us that Jack Howard still lives?” For a normally controlled vampire, heavy emotion leaked into his words.
“Where is he?” Charlie needed to know. “Why hasn’t he contacted us?”
“I don’t think he can, Charlie. He needs your help.”
“Tell us what to do!” Michael begged.
Catherine lowered her head. “I fear I have so little to help you find him.”
“Tell us everything you know,” William urged.
“At the moment I died, I believed your father had died alongside me. But after, I waited. I didn’t move on. I was expecting him, but he did not join me. It took months to learn how to maneuver my new spirit body. By the time I did, there was no trace of what had happened to your father. And unfortunately, the longer I was in spirit form the memories of how I died grew hazier. Now, no matter how hard I try, I just cannot remember what happened. Only that he never joined me. And he would have. Of that I’m certain.”
“Where exactly did you die, Mom?” asked Melinda, her voice unsteady. “Your bodies were never found. Or your body, I guess,” she clarified.
“As I said, that moment is rather hard to remember,” her mother replied apologetically. “I can recall every detail from my life, but not the moment of my death. However, I have a pretty good guess.”
Melinda started shaking, trying to hold back tears. “I dreamed about it,” she choked out, her voice breaking as she spoke.
“I know, My Sweet Girl,” her mother’s compassionate voice whispered.
“First prophetic dream I ever had, I just didn’t know it at the time. I could never remember any of the details other than you both died because I had the dream weeks before it happened.”
Her mother stepped closer and cupped Melinda’s face in her hands. “You must let go of this guilt you carry. There is no way you could have known your gift was presenting itself. My death was unavoidable, and it was
not
your fault, Melinda.”
“But I should have known. Even after you died, I should have been able to remember something… anything that would have at least let us know what happened.” She paused, wiping her eyes. “I could see it in everyone’s eyes when they looked at me. If only she had known. If only she could remember something…
if only
…” Melinda could no longer speak.
Charlie and Michael sighed, feeling guilty. They had both thought it, numerous times.
If only...
But they had tried very hard to hide those feelings around their sister, knowing how guilty she already felt.
Catherine stepped forward, addressing each of them. “You must
all
move on from this. I couldn’t be prouder of each of you,” she told them. “But I want you to live your lives in the present, never in the past. What’s done, is done.”
Charlie couldn’t help but smile. He would have given anything to hear his mother say those words to him, just one last time.
“The pull to move on gets stronger every minute. I must tell you everything I know while I can.”
They listened intently, hanging onto every word Catherine Howard spoke.
“Your father and I were exploring a cave, one accessed only at the foot of a very old tree, at the base of White Pines Mountain.”
“Old tree?” questioned William. “You don’t mean the one we used to picnic underneath when the children were but toddlers.”
“The very same, William. We never knew back then that this cave existed since it is hidden by
ancient magic
...” her words seemed to have more meaning to William than it did her children.
“You mean,
The Magic
… The Demon Isle’s power source?”
“Yes, William. We believed we had at last discovered its location. Unfortunately, we were not alone in the discovery.”
“If that power source fell into the wrong hands…” Charlie puffed air into his cheeks, letting it out in a huff.
“The man that made the discovery is dead. And seeing as the Isle is not in any more chaos than normal, I am guessing the power source’s location still remains a secret, or that we were incorrect about the location.”
“Hold up a second, Mom. This man that found out about the source, is that the man you shot?”
Catherine sighed in a deeply regretful manner.
“I’m afraid so Michael. We were tracking the man and followed him into an underwater cave. The one you boys were in today. The man had made some arrangement with a Sea Hag that frequents that cave. We were caught off guard though. The Sea Hag gave the man something, something that changed him, turned him into an enraged mad man. We presented ourselves, thinking we could kill the Sea Hag and question this man, but whatever the Hag had given him made him crazed. The Hag escaped, and the man attacked your father, knocking him unconscious. Your father is the Howard. Not me. But I did have potions, as always, all of which I used, trying to stop this crazed man’s attacks. Nothing worked. I tried to wake your father but to no avail. The man lunged at me and pinned me to the ground. Somehow, I wrestled him off me and grabbed my backup weapon… the gun. I do not regret my actions, seeing as the man tried to kill me. I deeply regret, however, not being able to question him about who he was, or what he knew about the power source.”
“We killed that Sea Hag today,” Charlie informed his mother with finality in his voice. She already knew this, but understood why Charlie needed to say it. He left out the rest of the story, deciding to fill everyone in later. “And the man in the cave, I think it’s safe to say the secrets he discovered died with him. I’m sure attempts would have been made against the power source had he shared his information.”
It didn’t offer much solace, but it would have to do. Drybones was in the sheriff’s morgue and other than reading the man’s death, whatever secrets he might have discovered, would never be found out now.
“So what do you remember about your death, dear Catherine?” William asked. Somehow, the question sounded more graceful coming out of the vampire’s mouth.
“Sadly, I have only been able to put together little bits and pieces… I know that after I shot and killed that man, we set out that very night for the old tree in White Pines, determined to find out if we had at last found the Isle’s power source. I’m afraid my last memory is entering that cave.”
“Michael,” Melinda started without thinking. “You could…” she did not finish, instantly revolted by what she was asking of him.
“No. You’re right,” Michael swallowed his reply. “As frightening as the thought is to me, I think I’d rather know how it happened. These last four years of not knowing…”
Charlie put his hand on Michael’s shoulder. “Are you really sure?”
Michael nodded yes and stepped toward his mother, bravely. “I don’t even know if this will work. I normally touch bones, or dead bodies,” he explained, pursing his lips.
“Just take hold of Emily’s hand. For all purposes right now, Emily is me. She’s perfectly fine, by the way,” she let him know. “Her body is built for this, and I must say, I could not have wished a more perfect woman to come into your life, Michael.”
Michael nearly crumpled hearing his mother speak so kindly of the woman he really did love with all his heart whether he had admitted it openly or not.
“I know how you struggle. This life isn’t one I’d wish on anyone. I can only plead with you to find your father before you make the choice to leave the Isle. And just know that I love you, no matter which path you choose.”
Ah, shit
… he nodded, unable to speak his answer. It was like having her back again if even for just a moment.
“Are you ready?” she asked him.
He replied by grasping his mother’s (Emily’s) hand.
The death reading came instantly.
He saw Jack and Catherine Howard entering a tunnel under the old tree. Once inside they lit torches to see the way. They took each step cautiously. Michael heard his father say something about ‘traps to look out for’ and no more than a few seconds later, they were accosted by ghostly bodies, flying at them from all directions. The ghostly frames dissipated into darkness moments later.
He saw his parents laughing.
“I guess that might scare away some people,” his mother said.
“Still, let’s be careful. I would bet my life there are very dangerous things protecting this power source.”
“It’s probably not the power source anyway. How many times have we thought we’d found it?”
“You’re probably right, but maybe this time we’ll get lucky.”
Catherine rolled her eyes and they continued forward. Soon the tunnels split into two directions.
“Do we split up or stick together?” Catherine asked.
“I don’t like the idea of splitting up, especially since we don’t know what obstacles we might come up against.”
“So which way then?”
Jack pointed right, and continued onward. Not ten steps in they sprung another trap. This one, much more dangerous. A pit was opening underneath their feet, Catherine slipped in, losing her footing.
Michael could not see into the dark chasm. But he watched as his father grabbed onto his mother and pulled her out. As her body got free, a torrent of sheeted blackness shot out from the hole.
“Son of a bitch!” shouted Jack, covering his wife’s body with his own. Once gone, he jumped up. “It’s a malevolent force, no doubt. I’m guessing it’s been imprisoned for a long time.”
“How do we fight it?” Catherine shouted over the whirling blackness that now raced for the cave’s entrance and its freedom.
“I don’t know but we cannot let it escape. Who knows what kind of
evil
this thing is.” Jack proceeded to chase after the unknown evil. Catherine dragged behind him a few steps, trying to keep up, as she searched her pockets, taking out a few potion vials.
Michael watched his mother’s death unfold before his eyes.
The whirling blackness twisted in circles like a tornado, blowing out his mother’s torch. She screamed, tripping over a jutting branch. The potions flew out of her hands, smashing against the hard cave wall. One of the bottles broke, splashing the contents onto Catherine’s face, leaking into her mouth.
She knew instantly she would die. The potion she’d swallowed included substances no human could ingest and survive. She had no protective witch’s blood coursing through her veins. It took only seconds for her body to weaken. She used all her strength to pick up her head and call out to her husband.
He hadn’t seen what had happened, and even if he had, there was nothing he could have done. He was fighting this streaming blackness with every ounce of strength he could muster. Sending spell after spell at the thing, and watching, horrified as each one simply passed through it like it was made of air.
Jack shouted for Catherine. When she did not return his call, he looked back into the cave and saw her lying on the ground. He raced to her, no longer caring about the evil he could not stop from escaping.
Catherine opened her eyes just in time to see him lean down in front of her.