I stroked Abigail’s hair, her head resting on my chest. ‘Yes, sweetie. He’s gone.’
Abigail sighed, relaxing into my arms.
Edie ran over to Josh, crouching down beside him and checking him over.
‘I’m OK, I’m OK,’ he reassured her, putting his hand on the small of her back as they sat on the floor.
Abigail reached out for her mum. Maggie bent down and picked her up, wrapping her arms around her daughter. I leaned against the table, my heartbeat finally slowing down.
‘Is anyone going to tell me what happened?’ said Harry. He looked at me.
‘You wouldn’t believe us if we told you,’ said Edie.
Which was probably true. Harry was a sceptic and probably always would be.
He crossed his arms. ‘I got locked in my bedroom by my five-year-old daughter. Try me.’
I sighed. I didn’t have the energy for his attitude. ‘Why don’t you tell me what happened first? How you got trapped in the bedroom?’
Maggie was the one who answered. ‘She wouldn’t do her homework. Said it was pointless and trivial. She then started, uh…’
‘Chanting in a foreign language,’ said Josh.
Ben and I exchanged worried glances.
‘A foreign language?’ echoed Ben.
‘It sounded like Latin,’ said Harry. ‘But how would a five-year-old know Latin?’
‘She wouldn’t,’ I said.
‘Meaning what?’ said Harry.
‘Meaning that it hasn’t been Abigail living in your house the last few weeks. Not completely, anyway,’ I informed him.
‘What the hell does that mean?’ snapped Harry.
‘Hey! Don’t snap at Mum like that!’ said Edie.
Bless my daughter for always having my back.
‘Your daughter was possessed,’ I informed Harry.
‘By a demon,’ added Ben.
Subtle. Real subtle.
Harry’s eyes bugged out of his head. ‘Don’t lie to me.’
‘They’re not,’ said Josh, rubbing the back of his head. ‘I saw it. The things she did…they weren’t normal. Since when can Abigail lock doors without keys or move furniture she can’t see?’
Harry looked to his wife, who was still comforting their daughter.
‘If Ben says it was a demon, I believe him,’ said Maggie. She hadn’t even met him but was trusting his judgment? Impressive.
‘What? How can you go along with this madness!’
‘Because the things we saw and heard weren’t normal, Harry. There’s no other explanation.’
‘There’s always a logical explanation!’
Maggie sighed. ‘Yes. That she was possessed.’
‘Magic isn’t real! How can you buy into this bull—nonsense.’
I rolled my eyes and stood up. ‘How long have we known each other, Harry?’
It sounded like he mumbled, ‘too long,’ but louder, he said, ‘I don’t know. Why?’
‘I know your dad—’
‘What about my dad? You never met him.’
‘I did, actually,’ I said.
Harry’s jaw tightened.
‘When?’
‘After he died. His name was Bert, right?’
Harry’s face paled at the mention of his dad’s name. He’d never told it to me, because he never spoke to me about anything. Ever.
‘Bert came to your house, when Maggie and I were here with you. He said he was sorry.’
Harry looked away, his eyes welling with tears. ‘Sorry for what?’
‘For what he put you through with the dementia. Degenerative diseases go away after someone’s passed, since they don’t have neurons firing or misfiring anymore. He said it wasn’t your fault. You’d done everything you could.’
He shook his head. ‘He’d never say that. He was always so tough with me.’
I nodded. ‘He was. And when it came time to cross over, he was filled with guilt. He almost didn’t cross.’
Harry’s muscles tensed. ‘Did he?’
‘Yes. Because I told him you’d be fine.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me any of this before?’
‘Would you have believed me?’
He lowered his head, looking at the wooden floor.
‘I’m not asking you to believe everything I tell you. I’m just asking you to trust that I’d never lie to you.’ I looked around the room: ‘to any of you.’
Maggie gave me a down turned smile. Josh nodded, his arms wrapped tightly around Edie. Her head rested against his shoulder, her hands clutching his arms.
Ben put his hand on my arm. The solidarity was reassuring, especially when it felt like Harry was going to come up with any excuse he could to disprove a demon had been possessing his daughter. I could hardly blame him, I supposed. But did he really have to make my life so difficult? Couldn’t he take his scepticism elsewhere, like the internet?
‘I know some of this is difficult to comprehend, but there is a way we can prove it to you,’ said Ben.
Harry shook his head. ‘No, I’m fine, thank you.’ He met my eyes: ‘I’ll settle for trusting you.’
*
‘What were you going to show him?’ I asked Ben on the short drive back to mine. Edie had opted to stay with Josh for a bit, to comfort him, so it was just Ben and me.
‘I was going to do a seance, summon his dad,’ he replied. I looked over at him. He was serious.
‘You really think that’s wise?’ I said.
‘He said no. What difference does it make?’
‘None, I guess. Nice work on the spell to open the front door, by the way,’ I said. ‘That was some spell.’
‘Maybe I’ll show you it sometime,’ he said with a smirk. Did I sound too eager if I replied with yes please?
‘That would be nice,’ I said. It was starting to seem like my limited ghost knowledge wasn’t enough anymore. Whatever was going on, I needed to get more prepared to protect myself, my family, and my community. ‘Do you think that’s it?’
‘When it comes to demons or ghosts?’
I shuddered. ‘Just knowing that they exist makes it hard for me to hear that word. Both.’
Ben shook his head. ‘No. I think this is just the beginning.’
I pulled up on our drive, but I didn’t get out. I closed my eyes, my hands still clutching the steering wheel.
‘Are you all right?’ said Ben.
I inhaled as deeply as I could, then exhaled slowly. ‘I don’t know. That was so…I’ve never done anything like that before. And to know that there are more? And Edie is wrapped up in it? What if she’d been hurt today? What if she gets hurt? What if Nathan’s warning of protecting his children wasn’t about Abigail being possessed by a demon? We don’t know when the demon possessed Abigail. Or why. What if the Morgans are still in danger?’
Ben put his hand on my shoulder. I felt some of the tension relax. ‘Whoa, slow down. Edie wasn’t hurt and handled it better than most newbies would’ve, especially with an injury like hers. She saved everyone. And as for the Morgans, they have us to protect them. I’m sure it means a lot to everyone that you’re around.’
‘Yeah, I guess she did. That doesn’t mean I have to like her doing this.’ I scrunched my face up, willing my impending headache away. ‘Do you think that’s why Maggie was safe? Because she didn’t confront the demon?’ I asked, still unsure why the Morgans had mostly been safe from the demon living inside their house.
‘I wish I could say yes,’ said Ben, ‘but demons are cunning. It could just be it hadn’t had a chance to execute its plan yet.’
The blood drained from my head. I tightened my grip on the steering wheel. ‘Its plan? You think it had a plan?’
‘Demons don’t surface for no reason,’ said Ben.
‘So what was its reason for possessing Abigail?’
‘I don’t know. But we’ll find out, don’t worry.’
‘As if we didn’t have enough to worry about already. Ghosts to hunt, demons to demotivate. What’s next?’
‘Let’s focus on the positives,’ said Ben. ‘Edie exorcised the demon, and the Morgans are now safe. Ish.’
‘Yeah. Ish. We need to ward their place fast, stop this happening again.’
‘I agree. Especially since we don’t know where the rest of the ghost miners have gone. Or what their intentions are. Or if there are any other demons around.’
I shuddered at the mention of demons again. To know one had targeted an innocent child intentionally turned my stomach. It’s a shame we hadn’t been able to interrogate it before exorcising it, but too much had been at risk.
Ben and I got out of the car and walked to the house. Tilly ran down the stairs, barking excitedly to greet us.
As I pushed the front door open, a parcel scraped against the Ikea doormat. I bent down to pick it up and laughed.
‘What?’ said Ben.
‘Potion ingredients. For the ward.’