4. Cary

4

Cary

T he spirits in the manor were in a temper by the time I returned. The energy around the place literally popped in my ears as I approached the front door.

I knew of at least three spirits that occupied the manor since I’d interacted with them on more than a few occasions, but I knew there were more. I had felt them, but never encountered them. Most had died on the estate, and all, except the particularly nasty one, were benign. However, tonight, nothing was benign about any of them.

Shit , I thought. It was too much for one man, even if my powers had improved with all the work and practice I’d been doing. I quickly picked up my phone and rang Allissa, or Al, as everyone called the leader of our coven.

“Yeah?” she answered, and I could tell she was annoyed, not that she wasn’t usually annoyed about something.

“Al, I need help.”

She sighed. “Cordelia Manor?” she asked, as if she’d been expecting trouble.

“Yeah.”

“I told you we should’ve exorcised that place.”

“I know, but… well, we can discuss that later. The new owner was attacked, and we have to do something before he returns.”

Al sighed again. “Okay, I’ll get the coven together, but it’s time, Cary, beyond time.”

“I know, but, Al, tonight it just needs to be calming, push the spirits back long enough for me to figure out what’s going on and how many spirits I have to deal with. I don’t want—”

“Yeah, yeah, we’ve heard all this before,” Al said in a huff. “Tonight, we can put a Band-Aid on it, but it’s the last time, got it?”

I shook my head, but whispered, “Sure,” before Al hung up.

The women of my family had shown me the ways of witchcraft and been strong advocates for not forcing energy to flow one way or another. “You must let the spirit world move on its own terms, otherwise, you threaten the balance between this world and the veil,” were words my grandmother repeated often.

Recently, Chemeketa, another small town along the coast, where many of our magical community lived, had some unfortunate experiences working with that imbalance as four brothers there had to battle a nasty cantation that was tipping the balance in many different ways. It’d almost broken the community and worse.

I certainly didn’t want a repeat of that, neither did Al, so I assumed that was why I was getting away with my stalling around the ghosts here in Cordelia Manor.

I’d grown to trust my grandmother’s teaching. Luckily, spirits didn’t scare me, well, not any longer. As a full-fledged witch, I had some power to influence the spiritual realm. Frankly, it wasn’t that difficult. Spirits weren’t supposed to be here, but they shouldn’t be forced to cross the veil before they were ready. They were weaker than the living. That didn’t mean they couldn’t do damage, though, as seen with the attack on the guy earlier today.

I’d been hired to deal with the spirits… well, mostly. My bestie, whose family ran Cordelia Manor under its Hallock Hotels umbrella, knew my skills involved such things. His grandfather owned the hotel chain that had leased the manor for decades. So, he’d twisted his grandfather’s arm after he’d had a run-in with one of the spirits.

There was something unsettling about the spirits at Cordelia Manor I still didn’t quite understand. They struck me as mostly innocent, and I knew their presence had to do with the evil entity. I’d tried to find out what the connection was and had come close a few times, but each time I got close to one of the resident spirits, something happened to pull them back. I could only assume they chose to stay rather than cross the veil.

I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as I stared at the front entrance. When Al and the rest of the coven showed up, we immediately took our places around the manor, each pouring salt to create a circle. With just thirty-three members, it was a big undertaking to surround such a large property with salt, which was one of the reasons Al was so frustrated.

I was the last to close my part of the circle, mostly because I had to use salt the others brought, and when I did, a loud crack broke the silence around us, causing me and several of the other witches to gasp.

“That doesn’t usually happen,” Al said worriedly.

I nodded, and whispered, “Gunfire?”

Al knew with the circle closed, we shouldn’t be talking but focusing on the task at hand, so she turned toward the house and thrust her hands out. Each of us did the same, and even though I knew the witches behind the manor couldn’t see us, they could feel the need to follow Al’s direction.

Unsettled spirits around this night, hear our voices, and stop your fight.

Calm yourselves and be at peace so you may have the rest you seek!

The moment Al finished chanting, power thrust back against the circle, fighting us, fighting the command to calm, and I could feel the shock of my fellow coven members. We’d never encountered something so angry or visceral as this, and we’d repeatedly done this very spell over the past few years, since I’d been hired to manage the property grounds and the spirits that haunted them.

We repeated the chant, over and over, until the energy slowly settled and ultimately fizzled out. We’d once again succeeded in putting the spirits to rest, at least for now.

I glanced at Al, bent over like she’d run a marathon. As our leader, she’d been the one to take the brunt of the energy. I wanted to comfort her, but we’d yet to break the circle, and I knew Al well enough to know she’d want to test things to make sure this wasn’t a ruse by the spirits, to make us prematurely let our guard down.

Al stood, took a deep breath, and began chanting again, this time in a quieter voice, no longer requiring us to chant with her. As usual, when Al did this sort of spellcasting, the rest of us hummed, allowing our energy to mix with hers.

After several minutes, a long time for a spell like that, Al stopped chanting, nodded at me, and used her foot to scrape an opening in the salt circle we’d created, thereby ending the spell.

I rushed over and placed my hand on her shoulder. “You okay?” I asked.

She nodded. “I’ll be okay after some rest. Damn, I know the nightmares are going to be horrible tonight, though.”

“Yeah, probably for all of us, sorry.”

Al shook her head. “Couldn’t be helped, but, Cary, this can’t be allowed to continue, especially with your new boss being attacked. The spirits are getting bolder.” She stopped, knowing I already knew we were facing something stronger than we’d encountered before. There was no reason for her to state the obvious. “By the next full moon, that’s a full month away, you need to have the place cleansed, or we’ll exorcise it once and for all.”

I wanted to argue and opened my mouth to do just that, but Al raised her hand to stop me. “I’ve let this go on too long, Cary. It’s time.”

I nodded because she was right. The living had a right to be safe from the dead. And letting spirits like these get stronger invited all sorts of nasty others to come to play. We sure as hell didn’t want to start dealing with demons or other spiritual nuisances. When they got involved, things got significantly more dangerous.

“Okay, I’ll do what I can, but, Al, with the new owner here, I can’t imagine I’ll be able to clear things.”

She smiled at me sadly. “I know, Cary, and you’ve tried. We all respect you for doing that. But—”

I nodded, not making her continue. “I’ll do what I can.”

She patted my back, as did most of my coven family as they left. I sat on the front stoop, head in my hands. I’d been managing the manor as best I could, and was simply lucky to have such an understanding coven. When my friend had asked me to work here, it’d been as much about keeping the spirits settled as it had been about managing the ground crews. It frustrated me that things had gotten so out of hand.

Fuck , I thought, quickly jumping up when I suddenly remembered I’d left the new owner alone at the hospital, and now it was getting dark. I was surprised he hadn’t called. Okay, he didn’t have my number, but he could’ve asked the attorney for it.

I quickly called Amelia, who hadn’t been able to join us since she’d been at work, and asked about him.

“Yeah, I tried calling you. Mr. Garland was discharged. I saw him leave in an Uber. I was kind of surprised you didn’t pick him up.”

“Damn, I meant to come back. I was concentrating on calming the residents of the manor. I wonder where he went?”

“I’m not sure, Cary,” she said, sounding concerned. “But he left hours ago. If he intended on going back to the manor, I’m guessing he’d have been there a while ago.”

“This day just keeps getting better. Okay, thanks, Amelia. I think I can scry for him just to make sure he’s safe. Then I’m going to go to bed. Gods help me, I’m worn out.”

Amelia only hummed in understanding, and after we hung up, I went to the Lexus and crawled into the back seat where the owner sat as I drove him to the manor and then the hospital. I closed my eyes and began to chant in the nonsensical way my grandmother had taught me years ago. “For scrying, it’s less important what you say, just that you say something to enable your mind to relax and the images to come,” she’d told me.

As I chanted, the image of Batterman’s Motel came to mind. I smiled. The place was recently bought by two young women from Seattle and turned into The Pink Palace. They served champagne instead of coffee, hosted major girlfriend parties, and had fluffed the whole place up. At least our twink would be in good hands there, so there was no need to worry.

I leaned back in the seat, feeling relieved. Then my mind whipped to the attack. The entity faced me, scowling, as pure hatred flowed from him. “Why do you hate this man so much?” I asked, without thinking.

The entity’s image opened his mouth to say something, and then paled and vanished. I guessed that was proof the spell had worked. We’d negated the energy he and the other spirits had. Not that it would last long. But the moon was waning, and with it, the energies took longer to gather their strength. That was in my best interest, at least. Not that it’d help since I couldn’t imagine I’d be able to clear all the spirits before the next full moon, not when they were as visceral as they were tonight.

Oh well, at least the poor twink wouldn’t get attacked again anytime soon. Although I was sure he’d get an eyeful before it was all said and done. The spirits might not have the energy to attack him, but that didn’t mean they’d stay hidden.