Demon Girl (Keeley Thomson Book One) (8 page)

   “Suffer... Unbelievers.” It whispered with a thick accent, just as the second candle went out too.

   Hally screamed.

   It was just reaction to the lack of light, Keeley understood instantly.

   Because the others didn't see the spectral monk at all.

Chapter four

   After a few seconds the others all started laughing, led by Gary, who was “manning-up” and leading the others to not take the whole thing all that seriously. Keeley got the idea, even before the boy spoke into the dark.

   “OK, who blew out the candles?” His voice was wry and giggly.

   After a few seconds Darla laughed too, her pitch low and menacing sounding.

   “Mwa ha ha! You cannot survive... the yes-yes board!” She lit a match, the light dim, but enough to cast an aura around the room. The candles were re-lit quickly, expertly.

   “Yes-yes?” Hally said quietly, her voice shaky and tense.

   “Oui and Ja both mean yes in other languages. So it means yes-yes. In other words it mainly just tells you what you want to hear. Of course what we want to hear can be surprising sometimes, don't you think.” The girl sounded confident, and looked at the others with a smile.

   Keeley stared at the specter, who, for his part, stared at the others. Except Darla, who also hadn't touched the pointer. After a few seconds the blond reached out to touch her arm, obviously her, even in the dark. Again there was that eerie blankness to the contact, no information passing at all. It was like silence being pushed into her head practically.

   “Oh wow guys, I think we've weirded poor Keeley out. Maybe we should take a break for a while? We should probably turn Gary back in to his dad before he thinks we're stealing him forever anyway. Eve, why don't you take my car and do that? Hally, would you go with them and make out with Gary on the doorstep for a bit? Make it look good?”

   Hally took a deep breath.

   “Yeah, no problem.”

   They packed off easily enough. Really they seemed almost grateful to get out of the room, and since the blue toned monk thing didn't go anywhere, but did keep following the three around as the lights came on, Keeley figured that could be why they wanted to get away from the situation. She had to fight not to stare at it, her eyes wanted to follow, but if she did it would look like her mom's cat, Peaches, staring at faeries in the air.

   In other words, she'd look insane. She hated looking insane. Instead Keeley smiled and tried to relax.

   “Hey, no problem. Probably that thing with the candles when Darla blew them out. That was pretty precise, but I felt it when you missed the first time... Pretty tricky! I almost thought there was a real ghost in the room or something for a minute.” It was acting, but seemed to be the order of the day, so why not?

   The other girl sighed as she led the small group toward the door.

   “It's what I get for not practicing first, isn't it? It was a pretty good trick otherwise though, don't you think?”

   Keeley did. Especially since she knew for a fact that Darla couldn't have hit the farthest candle at all. The lip of the container wouldn't let her, no matter how hard she'd blown, not without standing up at least. Then she'd also see the monk and still did. She just went along with the claim anyway. It didn't mesh with reality, but the others all suddenly seemed calmer.

   “Hah! I knew it was you. Or, well, Keeley maybe. But she doesn't seem the type to mess with people like that.” Eve sounded suddenly convinced of the matter, even as she subconsciously crossed her arms and shuddered a little. The monk was standing right next to her, glaring.

   The girl felt it on some level, that was clear. She reacted to it, but didn't know why.

   “Do not suffer a witch to live!” The thing suddenly yelled. The sound was hollow and after a few seconds Keeley realized that it wasn't a real sound at all. No one else responded, though she jumped, which made the others look at her funny.

   Sigh.

   “Sorry, I know it was just a joke, but, um, jumpy now.” She knew it sounded lame, but the others all just nodded, not wanting to admit to their own nerves.

   “Don't worry Keels. We can keep the lights on while they're gone and just talk, how about we go over some poster and decorating ideas for homecoming? We need a theme...”

   The others all waved as a group, an in unison thing that had to have been practiced at some point, almost like chorus line girls in a show. It was cute, but showed that they all had way too much time on their hands and spent a lot of that together.

   “Bye!” They all said at once too.

   Then there was more laughter. Well a fun enough group, except for the ghost or whatever it was standing there, trying to follow the trio out the door. Whoever the man had been in life, he really had a mad on for anyone trying to contact the dead. Being that he was dead himself that kind of meant he was a jerk, didn't it? If he'd been alive he probably would have gotten a phone, just so he could scream at the solicitors that called.

   On the good side, it didn't move fast, seeming to float without its feet touching the ground under the garment it wore. Creepy. Not scary though, just unusual. At the door Keeley reached out and put an arm between the thing and the people leaving. They weren't real friends yet, but she didn't want it to...

   Do whatever it was going to try to.

   She braced herself not knowing if the contact would hurt or not but the thing stopped without touching her arm, a good six inches away from her, just hovering in place. Back in the room Darla nodded as the door shut and walked out of the room, leaving her there, in what had to be a ridiculous pose, left arm out, just standing there in front of the door. She'd probably gone to get a camera, Keeley realized. Well, it looked a little dumb, but no one would actually care about it. A lot of people stood in weird poses for pictures.

   What Darla came back with was a lot different than she'd imagined. It looked like a clear glass pickle jar, the big kind, except that it had a glass lid with what looked like copper wire wound around the inside of it. From the way she held it, the thing wasn't exactly light. It had a glass rod with it, to which she tied a string that was in the container, and then held the whole thing out, the white bit of thread glowing in the air as she touched the specter with the clear glass wand, holding the large jar under her left arm like a football.

   The creature, ghost... thing, shrieked.

   “Back Demon! The Lord Jesus Christ compels you!” Then it started praying and making the sign of the cross.

   For some reason Darla didn't back off. Keeley would have, it was being kind of aggressive. All pushy and shouting as if it had a right to drive her away in her own home.

   After a minute it was barely visible, trapped as it was between the “jar of doom” and her own outstretched arm. It was interesting enough that Keeley even forgot to be embarrassed about the funny pose for a few seconds. Finally it faded altogether.

   Darla grinned.

   “And... Done. Thanks Keeley. That would have taken forever if I had to chase it around the yard with this thing. I don't even have the circus theme music set up. No one really cares about what you do, as long as it's set to music, have you ever noticed that?” The blond set the whole thing on the tall table near the front door, a brown wood with an almost black tone to it and slapped the lid into place the second she got the string tucked back into place in the middle, using the glass rod to do that and just the tips of two fingers. Then she tied the glass wand to the outside of the whole set-up and quickly walked it back to her bedroom, without saying anything more.

   Getting the idea that she wasn't needed to play ghost guardian anymore, Keeley decided to move to the living room and sit on the sofa while she waited, not knowing how long the whole thing could take. The answer was; not long at all. Less than a minute even.

   Darla jogged down the stairs happily, a big smile on her face and leaped over the arm of the easy chair across from her, landing a lot more lightly than the move should have allowed. A mere puff which even her hundred and ten pound frame shouldn't have allowed. Then the girl leaned forward, an almost conspiratorial look on her face. Slowly, as if it had great importance she took a breath to speak.

   “So... Themes...”

   Keeley blinked. Several times. Then staring at the girl she shook her head.

   “What? We aren't going with twelfth century monastery? I figured that was your clever way of introducing the idea, since you obvious know more about that... whatever it is, than I do.”

   “Oh, that? Don't let the robes fool you, that thing was definitely a last century knock-off. A lot of diehard religious people, the really fanatical ones, do that when they die. There's no heaven for them, so they think they aren't worthy and try to make life a pain for anyone having any fun at all. Trying to prove themselves to god I guess. Most people actually figure it out after a while, that they've just gotten rid of the part of themselves that isn't an energy pattern in the background of reality and that the rules are just a bit different, but some just like to hang on to the old ways, no matter who it inconveniences.”

   Getting up suddenly the girl went to the kitchen.

   “Want a soda? I have six flavors. I make the syrups myself. Or if you want anything different I can probably come up with something. Coffee? Tea?”

   “Um, do you have cream soda?” She asked, not wanting to be rude, but also a little more interested in both the ghost thing and the fact that Darla, spoiled looking little rich girl living alone, had countermeasures already in place. Because that was normal. Everyone had weird magical ghost jars sitting around, right? Really, it kind of trumped the sports car and classical music on the scale of weird for the evening. Nearly as strange as the ghost itself.