Chapter 30

Fiona doused the candles and stepped out of her circle.

Bailey followed. “I can see her, you know.”

“We don’t believe she’s shy when she wants to be seen. Stay close to me.”

The Woman moved across the clearing in an elegant glide, walking through the other spirits as though they weren’t there. When she stood within a few feet of Fiona, her smile brought the frost of winter to the summer air.

Fiona set herself. “I’m glad to talk with you.”

Again, the Woman’s chill enveloped Fiona. “You should be afraid.”

Fighting the urge to retreat, Fiona went on. “I want to help you. I’m a medium—”

“I know what you do!” The voice of the ghost rang through the clearing and the other spirits moved back. “Who are you to think you can help me?”

“I can help you cross over,” Fiona said, taking a step forward. “You can reunite with your loved ones. You could put this curse to rest, be at peace, and leave the Connelly family in harmony.”

The Woman turned to look at the demon, her skirt swirling in the soft grass. “You want to know about my happy family? Take a look.”

Mist appeared like a veil in front of Fiona and Bailey. In its center was the Woman, her long blonde hair in a smooth braid down her back. With a face much softer than the spirit she was now, the Woman bent over a wooden cradle and tucked a blanket around a sleeping baby. Just beyond, a young man with black hair and copper skin poured water into the black pot hanging above the fire. The young parents smiled at each other as the vision faded.

The Woman spoke, “I had what every woman wanted until it was taken from me.” She pointed to the demon. “He took it because of his hatred and ignorance. He thought himself superior to the savages he came here to save. In truth, he wanted to dominate them, and he craved me for himself.”

The Woman turned to the demon, cold eyes glittering with hatred. The demon shrank farther into the ground.

“He thought he would stop me from getting away,” the Woman said. “Even in death he wants to conquer me. That is why he disrupts the lives of those with magic. He yearns to destroy me as he did before.”

Glowing with anger, the Woman moved closer to the demon. At the clap of her hands, the black, oozing mass took form again, with legs, arms, and head. The noxious odor of sulfur filled the air as its body started to bubble and boil with heat.

Fiona felt another chill of fear. Was the Woman about to set it loose again?

The spirit looked at the demon as though it were a bug she was about to squash with her shoe. “Your demon form is as repulsive as your human body,” she said. “The hate that consumed you has made you even uglier.”

“Someday I will gain my power, and I will defeat you.” The demon’s voice was graveled and forced, painful to Fiona’s ears. “You will submit to me again.”

“Never,” the Women yelled. “You are here at my behest, only because I allow you to exist. You will suffer forever, just as I will.”

The demon writhed as if in pain. Then he rose to a monstrous height, and yelled, “Catriona!” before the Woman’s power slung him to the ground again.

Her name was Catriona, Fiona thought. At last, they had her full name, a connection to the person she had been. Fiona took another step toward the ghost.

Bailey grabbed her arm. “Don’t.”

“I’ll be all right.”

“Damn it, you don’t know that,” Bailey said. “She can take you whenever she wants.”

“He’s right,” the Woman said. “Any time.” A lightning bolt crashed behind her. “I want.” The boom of thunder pealed through the air.

Still Fiona faced her. “What separates you from the demon, Catriona?”

Fury stained the spirit red. “What do you mean?”

“You claim his hatred makes him ugly, that he took everything from you. Why do you do the same to us? Why not leave and destroy him, too? You suffered so much in life. I can help you cross over. I can help your baby. You could be with him forever.”

The spirit flinched, as if in pain. “Don’t speak of my child.”

“Please,” Fiona said. “Release us from our bargain. Set us and yourself free.”

The Woman turned, and a sudden cold wind almost knocked Fiona to her knees. “The world treated me with cruelty,” she shouted. “Why should it be easy for you?”

With a wicked laugh, she began to disappear. “You can’t help me, Connelly witch. The first of you who walked this land could not help. It remains the same, and I will continue to take from you as long as I want. Survive my father, if you will, but I will come again.”

A bright streak of lightning filled the night and the Woman in White was gone.

The demon roared behind Fiona, and she jerked around. For a brief time he appeared in a more familiar form with a bright red body, black horns, cloven hooves, and a pointed tail. Then just as quickly, he looked human, with the face of the old man Fiona had seen on the rattlesnake’s head.

“I will take your power,” he said and moved toward Fiona.

Fiona raised her hands and picked up a Gaelic chant from the coven behind her. She opened herself to her full sisterhood of magic. Focused on her, the demon missed the spirits who were close on his back and powered by fierce menace of their own.

“You will be mine,” the demon roared.

He couldn’t move as the first ghosts pushed him to the ground.

Fiona pushed more magical power through herself, strengthening the ghosts as they attacked the demon.

They pounded at him until he shrank and slithered among the stones. He disappeared into a hole like a long, black snake.