I certainly didn’t want a repeat of that, neither did Al, so I assumed that was why I was getting away with my stalling around the ghosts here in Cordelia Manor.
I’d grown to trust my grandmother’s teaching. Luckily, spirits didn’t scare me, well, not any longer. As a full-fledged witch, I had some power to influence the spiritual realm. Frankly, it wasn’t that difficult. Spirits weren’t supposed to be here, but they shouldn’t be forced to cross the veil before they were ready. They were weaker than the living. That didn’t mean theycouldn’t do damage, though, as seen with the attack on the guy earlier today.
I’d been hired to deal with the spirits… well, mostly. My bestie, whose family ran Cordelia Manor under its Hallock Hotels umbrella, knew my skills involved such things. His grandfather owned the hotel chain that had leased the manor for decades. So, he’d twisted his grandfather’s arm after he’d had a run-in with one of the spirits.
There was something unsettling about the spirits at Cordelia Manor I still didn’t quite understand. They struck me as mostly innocent, and I knew their presence had to do with the evil entity. I’d tried to find out what the connection was and had come close a few times, but each time I got close to one of the resident spirits, something happened to pull them back. I could only assume they chose to stay rather than cross the veil.
I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as I stared at the front entrance. When Al and the rest of the coven showed up, we immediately took our places around the manor, each pouring salt to create a circle. With just thirty-three members, it was a big undertaking to surround such a large property with salt, which was one of the reasons Al was so frustrated.
I was the last to close my part of the circle, mostly because I had to use salt the others brought, and when I did, a loud crack broke the silence around us, causing me and several of the other witches to gasp.
“That doesn’t usually happen,” Al said worriedly.
I nodded, and whispered, “Gunfire?”
Al knew with the circle closed, we shouldn’t be talking but focusing on the task at hand, so she turned toward the house and thrust her hands out. Each of us did the same, and even though I knew the witches behind the manor couldn’t see us, they could feel the need to follow Al’s direction.
Unsettled spirits around this night, hear our voices, and stop your fight.
Calm yourselves and be at peace so you may have the rest you seek!
The moment Al finished chanting, power thrust back against the circle, fighting us, fighting the command to calm, and I could feel the shock of my fellow coven members. We’d never encountered something so angry or visceral as this, and we’d repeatedly done this very spell over the past few years, since I’d been hired to manage the property grounds and the spirits that haunted them.
We repeated the chant, over and over, until the energy slowly settled and ultimately fizzled out. We’d once again succeeded in putting the spirits to rest, at least for now.
I glanced at Al, bent over like she’d run a marathon. As our leader, she’d been the one to take the brunt of the energy. I wanted to comfort her, but we’d yet to break the circle, and I knew Al well enough to know she’d want to test things to make sure this wasn’t a ruse by the spirits, to make us prematurely let our guard down.
Al stood, took a deep breath, and began chanting again, this time in a quieter voice, no longer requiring us to chant with her. As usual, when Al did this sort of spellcasting, the rest of us hummed, allowing our energy to mix with hers.
After several minutes, a long time for a spell like that, Al stopped chanting, nodded at me, and used her foot to scrape an opening in the salt circle we’d created, thereby ending the spell.
I rushed over and placed my hand on her shoulder. “You okay?” I asked.
She nodded. “I’ll be okay after some rest. Damn, I know the nightmares are going to be horrible tonight, though.”
“Yeah, probably for all of us, sorry.”
Al shook her head. “Couldn’t be helped, but, Cary, this can’t be allowed to continue, especially with your new boss being attacked. The spirits are getting bolder.” She stopped, knowing I already knew we were facing something stronger than we’d encountered before. There was no reason for her to state the obvious. “By the next full moon, that’s a full month away, you need to have the place cleansed, or we’ll exorcise it once and for all.”
I wanted to argue and opened my mouth to do just that, but Al raised her hand to stop me. “I’ve let this go on too long, Cary. It’s time.”
I nodded because she was right. The living had a right to be safe from the dead. And letting spirits like these get stronger invited all sorts of nasty others to come to play. We sure as hell didn’t want to start dealing with demons or other spiritual nuisances. When they got involved, things got significantly more dangerous.
“Okay, I’ll do what I can, but, Al, with the new owner here, I can’t imagine I’ll be able to clear things.”
She smiled at me sadly. “I know, Cary, and you’ve tried. We all respect you for doing that. But—”
I nodded, not making her continue. “I’ll do what I can.”
She patted my back, as did most of my coven family as they left. I sat on the front stoop, head in my hands. I’d been managing the manor as best I could, and was simply lucky to have such an understanding coven. When my friend had asked me to work here, it’d been as much about keeping the spirits settled as it had been about managing the ground crews. It frustrated me that things had gotten so out of hand.
Fuck, I thought, quickly jumping up when I suddenly remembered I’d left the new owner alone at the hospital, and now it was getting dark. I was surprised he hadn’t called. Okay,he didn’t have my number, but he could’ve asked the attorney for it.
I quickly called Amelia, who hadn’t been able to join us since she’d been at work, and asked about him.
“Yeah, I tried calling you. Mr. Garland was discharged. I saw him leave in an Uber. I was kind of surprised you didn’t pick him up.”
“Damn, I meant to come back. I was concentrating on calming the residents of the manor. I wonder where he went?”
