That’s not a good sign. I hope in this process, I don’t end up having to perform some kind of exorcism on him. It usually takes a Horror a long time to figure out how to possess a person, and this Horror hasn’t been around long enough to achieve that—at least not that I can tell. I’ll have to keep an even closer eye on Keagan.
As I walk him down to the car, I glance at him a few times. He seems like the same guy he was when I first met him, pleasant and laid back.
When he catches me looking at him, his cheeks turn pink and he smiles. “What?”
“Do you remember what happened a few hours ago?”
Keagan’s brow creases. “Can you be more specific?”
“Between us.”
He’s silent again, but then his cheeks bloom even darker pink, and he nods. “Yeah, of course I remember. Honestly, I don’t know what got into me.”
“I see.” I fasten my seat belt. “I was concerned that you weren’t really into it.”
“Oh, no, no. I didn’t mean it like that. I was definitely into it, I’m just normally a little more subtle about making a move on people, and I was pretty aggressive with you. I hope that wasn’t too much.”
“It wasn’t.” I pause as I press the ignition. “You’re sure you were completely in charge of your decisions?”
“Yes. What, do you think I’m possessed or something?” He laughs, but I don’t, and his laughter fades. He puts his hand on my wrist. “Wilder, it’s not like that. I knew what I was doing and I wanted all of it. And more. But like I said, I’m usually not that forward, so it was a little bit of a surprise to me, but it was definitely what I wanted.”
“Okay, good.”
“You did too, right?”
“I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t want to.”
“Okay. Then we’re cool, right?”
“Yeah, we’re cool.”
“Awesome.”
He fastens his seat belt and turns to look out the window. I drive as quickly as possible to his house, probably just as curious as he is to see the state of his place, but when we arrive, it looks perfectly fine. The house appears quiet, and there doesn’t seem to be anything disruptive happening at all, which is a good thing, but it could also mean that he’s right, and the Horror managed to follow him to my house.
When we go inside, the house is cooler than it should be, and as I walk around, I’m aware that we’re definitely not alone here.
Keagan seems blissfully unaware.
I follow him up the stairs to the second floor, but before I can walk into his bedroom with him, he stops me with a hand on my chest.
“I’m just gonna grab some clothes, and then I’ll be right out.”
“I’ll be right here.”
“Okay.” He smiles, but he’s avoiding eye contact with me, which immediately makes me suspicious.
He goes into the bedroom and closes the door while I wait in the hallway, straining my senses to pick up on anything else that may be lingering in the house. It does seem like all the other spirits are gone, which means what the Horror told Keagan is true.
The Horror absorbed the other spirits to use them for his own benefit. That’s going to make my job a lot harder, but not impossible. It’s not like I’ve never had a difficult Horror before, but it is rare to have one that was related to the target in life. I can’t remember the last time. Decades for sure.
Satisfied that the house is empty of spirits, I walk around. I check out the attic again, finding it empty, then check the other bedrooms in the home, also empty, before heading downstairs to look around. Other than the mess we left, everything seems to be the same as it was before, with no signs of additional activity. I send Calliope a quick text letting her know the situation here.
After what seems like too much time, I go back upstairs to check on Keagan, knocking softly on his bedroom door.
“Keagan?”
I’m met with silence.
