Pawsitively Dead (A Wonder Cats Mystery Book 2) (15 page)

“
T
reacle
,” I whispered.

The black alley cat jumped into my arms and purred and rubbed his head on my chin. As I stroked his black fur, I felt my head clearing. With a deep breath, I looked into his eyes as his thick black paw tapped my chin.

“I’m so sorry. I can’t hear you. Aunt Astrid’s spell. It should be over soon.”

He gave a quiet meow, his jowls vibrating with excitement. He pushed out of my arms with his front and back legs, and landed in the thick grass. Looking over his shoulder, he obviously wanted me to follow him.

“Where are they, Treacle? Show me,” I whispered.

With that, he trotted toward the southeastern part of the cemetery.

The cemetery had about four acres of pristine land. It was a good distance away from the street, and a visitor would require a map to locate any particular grave. The tombstones that had been erected in the southeastern section, where the ground was softer and the grass was still visible in the sections of sod that were rolled out like carpet, seemed brand new and polished compared to some. My parents were between the really old section, where the stones were simple rectangles with worn, barely legible names, and these new, elegant eternal resting markers.

Thankfully, there weren’t many new tombstones in these four acres. But one, flanked on both sides by two of the beautiful old oaks that grew majestically throughout the property, had been recently tended to. The dirt had barely had a chance to settle when it had been so disrespectfully disturbed.

I saw Aunt Astrid and Bea crouching behind a large tombstone with the name Smith chiseled across its face. They were watching with disgust as the man who used to be harmless Topher laughed and taunted the gravesite of Thomas Thompson while kicking and poking Lei Park’s unconscious body.

I ran up to them and felt their positive energy start to chase away my vertigo. But they didn’t seem all that happy to see me.

“Cath, what are you doing here?” Bea whispered angrily, grabbing my wrist and yanking me down into the shadow behind the tombstone. “You were supposed to stay home and continue the vigil.”

“Yes, I know. But I couldn’t—”

“Catherine, I am telling you right now to leave. Your cousin and I can handle this.”

Aunt Astrid was either furious with me or the shadows made her look more angry than she actually was. I preferred to think it was the latter.

“I know you can. But I think this thing wants me to stay away. I think it might be scared of something about me. It had two perfectly good chances to get me out of the picture, yet it didn’t. Why?” I held each of their hands. “You can’t tell me you don’t feel a little stronger now that we are all together. Right?”

Topher stopped what he was doing and glared in our direction. His lips peeled back from his teeth, and he looked nothing like the gentle hermit we knew. We were looking at a devil.

Aunt Astrid looked at Topher then back at me. Squeezing my hand, she nodded. With a fearlessness I had never seen, she marched up to Topher until she stood only about ten feet in front of him.

“You will cease your actions here, monster of the darkest dimension. Leave this place of peace and slither back down the hole you dared creep out of!” she said.

Topher’s body convulsed, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Words came out of his gaping mouth in a voice that was not his. “Get back, old woman. Witch! While you still have a chance to live out your next few years in ignorant bliss. This host has summoned me. He has allowed me in.
You
slither back.”

“The Maid of the Mist and the Creator of the universe condemn you back to the darkness you came from!” Bea stood and joined Aunt Astrid. Her voice was confident and strong, but her body shook as the thing inside Topher sneered and laughed at her.

Whatever it was residing inside Topher was wreaking havoc on his body. His hands were dirty and looked to be bleeding. I assumed he had used his hands to dig up poor Tommy’s grave. His face was contorted into a painfully unnatural grimace, and I heard the Unfamiliar grinding and gnashing Topher’s teeth, which were already in pretty bad shape after years of avoiding the dentist chair. His skin was scratched as if he had tried to get relief from hives or mosquito bites, and in some places, his skin was scratched open and bleeding a little.

It continued to laugh then spoke quickly. “You can’t stop me, witch!” It leered and pointed dirty, bloody hands at them. “Don’t you know what he’s done? Don’t you know he’s invited me in?” It laughed in a freakish, almost childlike tone. “This creature summoned me. I’ll do his bidding, and in return, I get his soul.”

Just as I was about to join Aunt Astrid and Bea in the expulsion ceremony, with one wave of his mangled and dirty hand, the spirit in Topher brought down a huge branch from one of the thick old oaks. The branch didn’t land right on them, but as she lunged out of the way, Bea’s foot got pinned beneath it. She let out a cry of pain, and the Unfamiliar cried out in a mocking sort of way.

As I sat there watching, I was paralyzed with fear. What if I had been wrong? What if I should have stayed home and done what my family wanted me to? I could have totally screwed everything up by coming to the cemetery. And what did I do when the tree branch fell and Aunt Astrid lost her balance and Bea cried out in pain? I stayed right where I was. I was frozen in place. Tears filled my eyes as I thought that this was exactly how I had reacted when my mother was in trouble. I was so scared.

The Unfamiliar chanted in weird languages that I was sure were a lot older than me and Wonder Falls and maybe even the earth itself. Mr. Park wailed. His eyes were still closed, but he cried out in anguish as the words the Unfamiliar was saying began to separate Mr. Park’s life force from his body.

T
reacle jumped
onto the tombstone I was crouching behind, and he hissed at me. Never in his life had he done that. The protection spell Aunt Astrid had slapped on me must have been extra-strength, because I was still unable to communicate with any of the cats. I didn’t know what Treacle was saying, but he looked at me then at the Unfamiliar. It was clear if I wasn’t going to do something,
he
would. My pet cat, which had gotten into scrapes with the alley cats, was braver than me at that moment. He turned away from me and made himself known to the horrible spirit inside Topher just as I stood from my hiding place.

For a second, everything fell silent. Bea and Aunt Astrid didn’t make a sound. The demon in Topher stopped and stared. The wind ceased to blow, and I swore even the crickets held their breath. My pulse was pounding in my ears. The thing was ugly, yet I stared at it.

Finally Topher let out a cry, stretching his human mouth long and wide. It wasn’t the demon making that noise; it was Topher. He was still in there and in terrible pain. I could feel it. I looked at Bea, who was crying. She felt it too. She felt the suffering that the Unfamiliar was inflicting on this harmless old man more than any of us could.

Then it laughed. “So you didn’t listen to your instinct and decided to come. I knew you would. Your mother said you would. She said you would.” The Unfamiliar stared at me.

Aunt Astrid helped Bea pull her foot free and get to her feet.

It was trying to rattle me by talking about my mother, but I took a deep breath, held it, and walked up to the girls. I tried to look brave, but something told me I wouldn’t be winning any Oscars for my performance.

Aunt Astrid and Bea took turns commanding the demon. They shouted spells and demands, but nothing was getting through. It was as if it had its own protection spell that we couldn’t break through.

“It’s Topher,” I mumbled, my eyes widening with surprise.

The Unfamiliar began to chant its poisonous incantation. I stepped closer and looked at its dead white eyes and dirty, scratched hands and face.

“Topher! I know you’re in there! I know why you did this!” I shouted over the Unfamiliar’s gurgling, diabolical gibberish. “I know what you’re feeling. I wanted revenge too.”

The words stopped. The white eyes looked at me, and the mouth, although still moving, was no longer making noise.

The real Topher was listening, and I was sure the Unfamiliar was afraid of me. It hadn’t wanted me there because I had the power to get through to Topher.

“I did, Topher. I wanted revenge. Why did my mother and father have to die? What did I do that was so bad I should be left alone? I didn’t even get to say good-bye.” My eyes filled with tears. I couldn’t help it. “I didn’t get to say ‘I love you’ one more time. Yes, I wanted revenge.”

“Revenge,” Topher hissed.

“And I thought about all the people who were mean to me. The people who were cruel and nasty, yet still they had both of their parents. Maybe I should be cruel and nasty too, right? Maybe that was what the world needed. Maybe if I just called for some help, I’d get it. It didn’t matter who from. Then I could have revenge. And once I got revenge, Topher, what would I have left?”

Topher shook his head like a dog after it gets out of a sudsy bath. His expression was confused and almost embarrassed.

“I wouldn’t have anything left. I wouldn’t have my parents any more than you’d get Tommy back. I wouldn’t get even with those mean girls any more than you’ll even the score with Mr. Park. You don’t want to do this, Topher. Death is a part of life. It’s the part that makes us cherish our memories.”

“No. No. No,” the Unfamiliar hissed.

“It’s the part that makes us value each day. To try to reverse the natural course of life is to hand ourselves over to the evil one. You’re just sad, Topher. It’s okay. It’s okay to be sad and angry. But if you don’t fight it, you’ll feel a part of you die slowly every day as hatred consumes you. Please.” I clenched my fists and stood up straight. “Fight it!”

“No. No. No,” it hissed. “No. No. No.” Its voice was quick, and it took three fast steps toward me.

I flinched a little but recovered and stood my ground. I looked into its eyes as a thin string of drool dripped out of the corner of its slackened jaw. For a flash, Topher’s gentle old eyes appeared.

“I see you, Topher. Don’t let it win. Tell it to go. Tell it to leave!”

Just as quickly, his eyes became strange again. It threw its head back and cried a pitiful, painful howl.

“Leave me.” The words sounded as if they were being choked out.

My heart broke for the old man. The hatred I felt for this evil spirit was palpable. It fed off the emotions of humans who were beyond sad, beyond hopeless. I wanted to take Topher’s hands and hold them, but I didn’t dare.

“Leave me alone!” Again Topher spoke, his voice slightly stronger.

I could only imagine the pain he was going through. Removing the Unfamiliar was like pulling one of those spiny, prickly weeds out by the roots. Their tentacles wove through the dirt, spreading out until they consumed everything around them. Nothing but sheer will would get them loose. Right now, that was what Topher was doing. He was pulling this weed from his soul, and it was hurting him for it.

“Leave me alone! Leave me alone! Now! Now!”

Suddenly he stopped. For a minute, I thought he was dead on his feet. I stared at his eyes, which had snapped shut. I looked for his chest to rise and fall with breath. Any twitch of his hands or face. But there was nothing. He just stood stone still.

“I’m afraid!” Topher cried to me. “I’m afraid.” He whimpered as tears dragged dirt down his cheeks.

“You should be,” I spat back, recognizing the trick of the Unfamiliar.

Taking one step back, I reached out my hands. Bea took one, and Aunt Astrid took the other. Like pulling a bent, twisted, rusty nail from a board, we recited the expulsion chant. The Unfamiliar contorted poor Topher as it tried to stay inside him. It scratched at his body and made him fall to the ground, writhing like a maggot in hot sun. But we didn’t stop. We chanted until our throats were scratchy and our palms sweaty from holding on to each other.

Finally, the Unfamiliar couldn’t take any more. Topher tossed his head back violently, and the Unfamiliar flew from his mouth until it became a long black serpent hovering over him in the air. Its eyes were a sickly orange color with black pupils, and it rolled its tongue around its face like a lizard licks its own eyeballs. It screamed.

“Gamodan! Ex! Enfinitu!”
Aunt Astrid cried. “You will cease your actions here, monster of the darkest dimension! Leave this place of peace and slither back down the hole you dared creep out of!”

In its true state, the Unfamiliar crinkled up as if it were being burned. Folding around and over itself, it became smaller and smaller until it was the size of a golf ball. With a loud clap like a door slamming and the sound of glass shattering, it was over.

Topher fell to the ground, crying. Bea rushed to his side, and he looked at her with red eyes and wet with tears.

“I didn’t get a chance to tell him how proud I was of him,” he mumbled. “I just wanted one minute, just one more minute to tell him that.”

Bea put her arms around the old man.

To him, it was just a hug, an opportunity to literally cry on someone’s shoulder. To her, it was a chance to see some of his ailments caused by his grief. The Unfamiliar had filled his mind with so many whispers that it was probably clouded over like an extra membrane had developed around it. His heart was already grief stricken, but the guilt the Unfamiliar had poured onto him pierced his heart like thousands of tiny thorns. While Bea spoke gently, soothing his worries, she worked diligently to pull away the fibrous remains of the Unfamiliar’s brain haze and pull the barbs from his heart one at a time. With each passing minute, he became more peaceful until he fell asleep with Bea’s arm around him.

“What about Mr. Park?” Bea asked, jerking her head in his direction.

“He’s still out cold. I think they’re both sleeping,” Aunt Astrid said.

Bea nodded in relief. Non-witches recuperated from encounters with the supernatural by shutting down. In the morning, what they’d seen, heard, felt could be easily waved away as part of some lucid dream. Us Greenstones, on the other hand, would feel as if we had drunk moonshine straight from a homemade pressure cooker still, and that would stick with us for a couple of days.