‘Are you sure you’re fine to…?’ Maggie lowered her voice to finish what she was saying, ‘you know, exorcise her?’
I’d explained my suspicions and the risks to her. She wasn’t happy. But, for obvious reasons, she also wasn’t happy about her daughter being possessed. An exorcism was the safest thing for all of us.
‘She literally screamed herself to sleep. She only stopped just before you got here. It’s so unlike her,’ said Maggie.
‘It’s OK. We’ll get your Abigail back.’ I put my arms around her shoulder and squeezed.
‘Are you sure you don’t want to wait for Ben to get here for me to—’
She wanted to hold out so that she could meet Ben and vet him, that’s what she bloody wanted. Nice try.
I spun her around, grabbing her favourite red trench coat and putting it around her shoulders.
‘I’ll take that as a no, then.’ Maggie put her coat on properly. ‘Hopefully some time in a kitchen will help me clear my head.’
‘How you find working as a chef relaxing I’ll never know,’ I said, shaking my head. Wouldn’t a kitchen be busier than her house? Noisier, too?
She shrugged. ‘Neither do I. Probably a control thing.’ She kissed my cheek. ‘You know where I am if you need anything.’
‘Yes, but I won’t.’ I spun her around so that she was facing the door. ‘To work with you!’
‘Yes Mum!’ She grabbed her bag from by the front door, then left, leaving me alone with a possessed five-year-old. Was this going to be as easy as I’d hoped it would be?
Was anything ever?
*
‘You sure you’re up for this?’ I said as I opened the door for Ben half an hour later. He was my backup. I was hoping he had something in his arsenal to cover me if something went wrong with Abigail. I had a sinking feeling something would, too. Was I just being paranoid?
After waking up and discovering her mum had gone to work, Abigail had started screaming. Her voice was starting to grow hoarse, which I took as a sign that she’d wear herself out soon. I just hoped it would be before my ears gave out.
‘I have nieces who are twin toddlers. This is nothing,’ he said, walking into the house. ‘Nice place. You sure you want to deface the walls again?’
I rolled my eyes at him. ‘Very funny. I feel bad enough about it as it is, but what choice do we have? If I don’t do something, things could go very wrong very fast.’
Ben nodded. ‘You mean they haven’t already?’
My shoulders sagged.
‘I’m sorry. It must be horrible with it being someone you know and love,’ he said.
‘Yeah,’ I said with a sigh. ‘Have you done an exorcism before?’
‘No. Theoretical knowledge is more my thing.’
Bugger. So much for him being good for backup.
‘Until you met me,’ I said with a smirk.
‘And oh how you’ve made my life interesting so far,’ he said, smiling back at me. Blood pounded in my ears as I met his gaze. I had no doubt I was about to start blushing.
‘AUNTY NEEVIE!’ Abigail shouted.
Ben rubbed his ears. ‘Wow, she has a set of lungs on her.’
‘Told you.’
‘AUNTY NEEVIE!’ she shouted again.
‘Excuse me,’ I said, going upstairs to where Abigail was jumping up and down on her bed. ‘You shouldn’t do that; you might break it.’
She carried on jumping, barely giving me a cursory glance. Unusual. She was usually more willing to listen as she saw me as the ‘cool’ aunt. ‘I’m hungry.’
‘What do you want to eat?’ I asked.
I tried to ignore the sensation pulsing through me. It was like I was one end of a magnet, and I was being pulled to the other end. Towards whatever was inside of Abigail. I pushed the sensation down, focusing on the mission. I only felt it in Abigail’s room. If I stood in the doorway, I could handle it.
Whatever it was, it was a sensation I’d never had before. And I didn’t want to feel it again.
But I had to face it if I was going to exorcise her.
Abigail jumped off the bed. I nearly had a heart attack as I reached out to catch her. It was a high bed, but luckily she landed fine on her feet. The position she landed on seemed unnatural somehow, though.
Ben appeared beside me. ‘Potion,’ I whispered to him. ‘Bag,’ I added.
He nodded, then went downstairs to get my handbag.
‘Who’s that man, Aunty Neevie?’
‘Just a friend. He’s helping me with a project.’
Abigail narrowed her eyes. ‘Does Mum know he’s over?’
‘Yes.’
And she hated that her possessed five-year-old was meeting him first. I didn’t get why, though. There was nothing going on between Ben and me. It was just a friendship of convenience; it was a relief to have another adult who could see ghosts and understood how things worked. And he got extra points for his proximity to books.
Ben reappeared behind me and slid the potion into my hand.
‘I’ve got some medicine for you. Would you like to take it?’
‘No!’ she said, folding her arms. ‘Won’t take it.’
I rolled my eyes. Bloody kids. Or ghosts. Or ghost kids. Whatever.
Ben leaned into my ear. ‘How do you want to play this?’
‘Not a bloody clue.’
Abigail put her hand to her mouth. ‘You said a bad word!’
Damn. Hadn’t thought she could hear me.
‘You should be nicer while I’m here then, shouldn’t you?’ I said.
Abigail sunk onto the floor and sat, cross-legged. ‘I’m not bad,’ she said with a pout. ‘I’m poorly.’
I wasn’t convinced. ‘Why don’t I go make you a hot chocolate?’
Abigail nodded, clapping. ‘Hot chocolate! Hot chocolate!’
‘You stay there then, and we’ll be back.’ I grabbed Ben and led him downstairs. Abigail resumed jumping on her bed, the echo reverberating through the house. Maggie would kill me if she broke her bed, so I had to make the hot chocolate and fast.
‘I take it you’re mixing the two together?’ said Ben.
I nodded as I flipped the kettle on and began rummaging in cupboards to make a fancy hot chocolate. ‘Not sure if it’ll work, but I don’t want to force it down her throat unless I have to.’
‘Do you have any spares if it doesn’t work?’
‘Nope, this is my last batch,’ I said, slamming a Hello Kitty mug onto the counter.
‘Big risk,’ he said, rocking on his heels.
I turned to face him. ‘What?’
‘Nothing. Just a risk, that’s all.’
‘You’ve study parapsychology and you’re worried about a little risk?’ I asked, lowering an eyebrow.
He shrugged. ‘My focus is more on theory than practise.’
‘You’re telling me,’ I mumbled. I made each of us a drink, slipping the potion into the one in Abigail’s Hello Kittle mug. She was still jumping on her bed when we went back upstairs.
‘Here you go,’ I said. ‘Should be just the right temperature to drink, too.’
Abigail ran over and snatched it from my hand. She chugged it in an unusually fast pace. The potion didn’t make a difference. A smirk crept across her face. She threw the mug to the side. It shattered. Her eyes turned black.
‘Nice try, ghost hunter,’ she said in a guttural voice I didn’t recognise. ‘You’ll have to try harder than that to get rid of me.’
She raised her hand in my direction. I flew through the air, smacking into the bedroom wall.