Ethan rests his hand on my thigh and I go back to the second bag of popcorn, using magic to make it pop again. The unwelcome feeling gets stronger and stronger.
“It really doesn’t want me here,” I say quietly when the popcorn is done. I dump it into another bowl and pass it to Nik.
“Because you’re a medium?” Keith asks.
“I don’t think it knows that yet.” Letting out a breath, I go back to the movie, acting like I’m enthralled because I knowheis watching me. Just like he watched them.
I loop my arm through Ethan’s, working hard to keep the image of him from my dream out of my head. It was put there to disturb me and scare me. The psychological warfare raged by spirits typically starts slow, getting worse and worse over time until you’ve lost sleep, damaged relationships, and are at your breaking point.
And that’s when possession can occur.
Feeling antsy, I pick up my phone and mindlessly scroll through social media. I mostly follow horse rescues, saddle shops, and a handful of hot veterinarians, as well as some local shops and events. The Paradise Valley Parks Department shared a calendar of upcoming summer events, and one in particular catches my attention. TheKickoff to the Summer Solsticeevent is being held not long from now, but it misses the actual summer solstice by a few weeks. I’m about to scoff at it for getting the dates wrong, but I open the event page and read the actual info.
Hosted by a local spiritualist group, it’s an outdoor party in the park inviting “Wiccans, Pagans, and likeminded individuals to come celebrate nature and make new friends. We’ll discuss ways to celebrate the upcoming Solstice with a chance to join the first ever planning committee”. I wouldn’t find anyone from an actual coven at something like this, but I would have jumped at the opportunity before to go to something like this.
An impressive amount of people have already clickedgoingon the Facebook event page, and I scroll through the names, seeing if I recognize any of them as members of my coven. I don’t, but Grim Gate is a large coven and there’s no way I’d know everyone.
I put my phone down and bend my knees up so my legs are resting on Ethan. He looks bored and like he might fall asleep, which would be ideal, actually. He’s leaving early tomorrow for “work” but is really going home to take care of the horses and then crash for a few hours in our bed before he actually has to go to work. I thought it was a horrible idea when he suggested it, but he insists he’ll be fine and is used to doing physical activities on little sleep.
The movie ends and I get up to use the bathroom. It’s cold in the house and I shiver, zipping my hoodie all the way up. I pee and then go to the sink to wash my hands, turning the water on warm and giving it a good minute to see if it will actually heat up. The sink above the mirror is scratched up and dirty, and I have a rule about not looking in unfamiliar mirrors at night.
I can’t help but notice something moving behind me, and as hard as I try not to, I cave and look up. A man with graying hair, dark eyes, and a cigarette burning in his mouth is behind me, and I whirl around right as he rushes at me.
“Your kind isn’t welcome here,” he sneers and the hate and rage he’s carrying passes through me for a split second.
“No, you’re the one not welcome!” I shoot back, holding up my hands as I spin back around, looking in the mirror for him. “This is my house.”
Another loud bang echoes through the house, reverberating off the walls. The lights flicker and then go out. I hear Rene yelp with fear and I inch toward the door, holding up my right hand to summon a fireball. The dark shadow of a man stands right in front of the bathroom door. Sinister laughter sounds in my head and then I sense his deep satisfaction as scissors snip and a lock of hair falls to the floor. The fucker cut hair from his victims to keep as trophies.
“What did you do?” I demand, and the fire in my hand grows brighter. The shadow shrinks down, slipping out under the bathroom door. “Ethan!” I yell, wanting to warn him that the spirit is coming into the room. Still holding fire, I twist the doorknob with my other hand.
And it doesn’t budge.
“Dammit,” I grumble and try twisting the lock. Nothing works, and the door is completely jammed. “Ethan!” I call out again. “The freaking door is jammed.”
“Hang on,” Ethan calls back and I hear his footsteps as he hurries over. The doorknob rattles but doesn’t turn. “Step back.”
I move to the other side of the room, out of the way as Ethan kicks the door in. The wood around the lock splinters and the door swings open. Eyes wide, he steps into the room and comes right to me, hand landing on my hip. “You okay?”
“Yeah. The angry male spirit manifested.”
“I heard you talking.”
“Did you hear him talking as well?”
Ethan shakes his head. “Are you hurt?”
“I said I’m okay,” I retort. “He’s so full of rage, and I think I know why.” I bite my lip, needing to test a theory. The very first time I stepped foot in this house, I used magic to unlock the door. And I felt unwelcome and unwanted right away. But there was something else, something I don’t think I allowed myself to really even think about until just now. People have intrusive thoughts and our first instinct is usually to push them away and not give them any power. We don’treallybelieve those things, after all?
Yeah, I could hurt someone, but I wouldn’t because I don’t want to and it’s not me.
And what I felt when I walked into the house wasn’t just that I wasn’t welcome. It was that I wasn’t worthy.
Holding up my hand to light my way, we go back into the room. “Nik, I need you to do something, like literally anything, using faery magic.”
Light from the laptop illuminates his face and he thinks for a second before rubbing his thumb over his fingers, creating a tiny bit of shimmery blue faery dust. He tosses it up and snaps his fingers, causing the dust to crackle with static electricity that lights up the room, bathing everyone in blue light, for just a few seconds before sizzling out.
The bedroom door slams shut.