Tymber Dalton (23 page)

He shook his head. “I need sleep. You don’t have to come all the way back out here. Just call me later.” He paused. “Um, what exactly did I say? I remember you had a weird look on your face, and then it was lights out.”

She shook her head. “Nothing. You weren’t making any sense. They said the fever made you delirious.” No way in hell would she tell him the truth.

Unlike Matt, Steve couldn’t tell when she lied.

A nurse stepped into the cubicle and kindly told her time was up. Sami kissed Steve good-bye.

“You’re going to be fine, you hear me?”

He nodded. “Whatever you say, boss.”

“I’ll call later and check on you.”

He caught her hand and met her eyes. “I love you, Sami.”

“I love you, too.”

But she wasn’t sure how true that was anymore.

* * * *

The nurse checked Steve’s IV, added more drugs to his medicine pumps, and left him alone. He closed his eyes and tried to recall exactly what happened. Everything between the time he sat down at his desk and now was a fuzzy blur. There was something about Sami and Matt—

He pictured a crazy, spinning kaleidoscope of images, horrific scenes flashing past.

Stop that
, he thought.
It’s the infection, that’s all. You’re hallucinating.

* * * *

When the shakes hit nearly halfway home, Sami pulled over, her whole body trembling. What the hell happened? The doctors said it was the infection causing him to hallucinate.

Sami knew it was more than a fever.

Is that what George Simpson sounded like in his final days? Is that the man Evelyn dealt with, the man who murdered her and her children?

Did she dare wait for Steve to get out of the hospital? Maybe she should insist on flying Steve home to Ohio. No, he wouldn’t go for that. He also wouldn’t believe her wild suspicions.

She wasn’t sure
she
believed them. Maybe there was a perfectly logical explanation, like he’d somehow managed to hide a secret stash of booze she didn’t know about.

It took her nearly ten minutes to feel steady enough to drive. Matt called as she arrived home. “We have left Ohio behind us.”

“It’s good to hear your voice. How’s Pog?”

“I have to convince him at every gas stop that he’s not the driver and he has to move over, but he still doesn’t believe me.”

She laughed. Boy, she needed that. “Tell him mom says he’d better behave or it’s bargain basement kibble for him.”

“You hear that, Pog? Your mommy said you have to listen to me. No, he’s okay. He settles after we get moving.”

“Where are you stopping?”

“I’m going to try to make it north of Atlanta. I don’t want to be on the road too late. Once I hit Atlanta tomorrow, it’ll be about eight hours to you.”

“You’re on I-75?”

“Yep. We’re halfway between Lexington and Knoxville.”

“Wow! You’re making good time.”

“Traffic’s not too bad, weather’s great, so it’s an easy trip. Let me go, just wanted to let you know where we were.”

“Call me when you stop tonight, okay?”

“Sure thing.” And he was gone.

She looked at the phone and realized why she thought Matt had made great time—it was nearly two o’clock. Where had the day gone? The only thing in her stomach was a cup of coffee from that morning, and she was starving.

The box from Julie Prescott was still locked in the bottom drawer. She fished it out and spread the contents on the kitchen table while she ate. She even included a small instruction booklet detailing how to use the items.

Two tied bundles of dried herbs—sage, the book explained. An abalone shell and large feather. A satin bag full of sea salt. Four different candles, admittedly very aromatic and not at all fake smelling. A neon-green book of matches with the pink Many Blessings store logo. A small vial of oil, and another of honey. An empty bottle labeled “Milk.”

Sami supposed she had to add her own.

A small piece of chalk, a bag of assorted dried herbs, and a short list—“milk” at the top—of common items you supplied yourself.

“This is silly.” Speaking out loud made it feel less silly.

She stared at the box, unsure. On the matchbook cover was the number for Many Blessings.

“Okay, this really is nuts.” Sami walked into the living room when something caught her eye.

From the banister at the second floor landing, a young man hung from a piece of rope, his head at a grotesque angle, his body slowly twisting. She heard the rope creak as it rubbed against the wood. Sami opened her mouth to scream, and he disappeared.

She raced to the kitchen and grabbed her phone. The voice on the other end sounded strong and clear, like a fine church bell. “Many Blessings, how may we brighten your day?”

“Can I speak to Julie, please?” Sami’s terror threatened to break through but she successfully clamped down on it.

“Sure, please hold.” The hold music was a soothing Native American flute song. Sami was losing herself in it when Julie came on the line.

“Julie Prescott, how may I help you?”

“Julie, this is Samantha Corey.”

“Mrs. Corey! How are you? Did you do your house blessing?”

How to approach this? Head on. “Well, that’s what I’m calling about…”

If Julie could have crawled through the phone to join her, Sami imagined she would. Sami told her the bare minimum, hinting there might be something darker going on and she didn’t want to try it alone. They agreed to meet at five, Julie assuring her she would be discreet. Sami hung up feeling very nervous.

Sami returned to the living room. The banister held nothing more sinister than dust motes.

* * * *

Julie drove a kiwi-green Honda Element with pink
Many Blessings
signs on the doors. She carried a rather large box and mounted the porch steps to the kitchen door. “I wanted to make sure I have everything we’ll need.”

Sami pointed her to the kitchen table, where she still had the other items spread out. Julie quickly unpacked the box. “I brought some fresh milk. I have a neighbor who’s into organics and milks their own cows.” She handed the small, stoppered glass bottle to Sami, who was surprised to find it still warm. “Fresh from the cow,” Julie explained. “Overkill, I know, but hey, why not?”

Sami gave up trying to understand what everything was for and allowed Julie to take the lead. Julie held out a small black stone strung from a silk cord and motioned Sami to put it on. “Black onyx. It’ll help protect you.” She indicated a small silk bag on a thin cord around her neck. “I carry what I need in here. Everyone has their favorites.”

Sami began to wonder if this was such a good idea after all.

“Let’s see what we’re dealing with,” Julie said, walking into the living room. Sami gave her a quick tour of the house, and they returned to the kitchen. “What’s down there?” She pointed to the basement door.

“That’s the basement.”

“Really? Interesting. We need to do it, too.”

Sami led the way, warning her to be careful on the steps.

Sami was all the way to the bottom before she realized Julie’s bubbly, nearly nonstop chatter had silenced, and the woman was frozen on the steps about halfway down.

“Are you o—”

Julie held up a hand. Even in the poor light, Sami noticed the color had drained from the other woman’s face.

Julie bolted up the stairs and Sami made it to the kitchen in time to see her retching in the kitchen sink.

“I’m so sorry,” she apologized as Sami handed her a paper towel. “I…wow.” Julie looked at the basement doorway. “That’s rough down there. I had no idea.”

Sami wasn’t sure what to think.

Julie sat at the kitchen table. “There’s a lot of energy in this house. Much of it unsettled, and some of it downright dark.”

“What does that mean?”

“I’m going to do a cleansing and blessing, but I can’t promise it’s going to cure, or even help things.” She paused. “Depending on how strong they are, you might even see an increase in some activity.”

“Ghosts?”

She shook her head. “I don’t like to use that term. There’s different energies out there. Some intelligent, some not. Some are like a DVD on loop, playing over and over and they don’t even know you’re there. There’s other things out there, too. We don’t need to get into that. Yet.”

“What do you think is here?”

“From what I’ve heard it’s most likely a loop, replaying what happened. Maybe even some sort of dark genius loci. Spirit of the land, if you will. But there can be a lot of negative energy bound to a place until it’s released. George Simpson was a pretty negative guy. Someone like that, dying the way he did, and his family… Well, that can leave a bad funk for a long time. And my great-grandfather…” She shrugged. “People who are sensitive, they can be negatively impacted by leftover energy in a place.”

This woman was a Rhodes Scholar?
“What do we do about it?”

“We’ll start with the basics. Can you open all the windows and doors?”

Sami nodded and set to it. When she returned to the kitchen, Julie had one of the sage sticks smoldering inside the abalone shell. “I know this might seem weird mumbo jumbo,” she said, “but it’s no different than a priest blessing a house, just a different religious path.”

Sami followed her through the house, starting with the attic. Julie wafted the smoke from the sage stick in every corner, muttering a simplistic prayer. She repeated this in every room, every closet, every doorway.

If nothing else, the sage smelled good. The house
did
need a good airing.

Julie’s clear voice sounded soothing. When they reached Steve’s office, Julie paused. “This is your husband’s study, correct?”

Sami nodded and supposed it was a lucky guess on Julie’s part. She hadn’t told her it was Boy Genius’s lair.

Julie spent extra time in the room, making sure it was thoroughly saged. When they returned to the kitchen, Julie looked at the basement door and took a deep breath. “Light one of those blue candles and bring it, please.”

Sami lit it, surprised by its clear, sweet herbal scent. With a hand up to protect the flame, she slowly made her way down the steps ahead of Julie.

Julie closed her eyes and paused halfway down, but kept going. Her voice trembled slightly, then grew strong and clear again as she walked around the entire room. When she reached the bookcase, she paused. “There’s more.”

“What?”

Julie looked around. “There’s more. There’s another room.”

Sami shook her head. “This is it. There’s the barn—”

Julie shook her head emphatically. “No. There’s another room somewhere around here. I feel it. It’s where the negative energy is concentrated now. We need to find it.”

Julie studied the bookcase. Sami placed the candle on the washing machine before walking over to join her. “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. If we can’t find it, we won’t be able to fully cleanse the house. It’ll be better, but chances are the energy will come back.” Julie laid the smoldering sage on the washing machine and together they searched for the secret room.

“What’s behind this bookcase?”

Sami shrugged. “Wall?”

Julie pulled books down with Sami’s help. Faced with bare shelves, both admitted there was apparently no way of moving them.

“They’re attached to the wall,” Sami said. “I don’t see a seam or anything.”

After a while, Julie finally admitted defeat. “I’ll help you put these back and we can continue.”

“No, just leave them,” Sami said. “I was going to dust anyway.”

“Are you sure?”

Sami nodded. “Absolutely. It’s after six now, and I don’t want to keep you here all night.”

They finished with the basement and returned upstairs. Julie led Sami outside, handed her the sea salt, and showed her how to protect the house with it.

“I’m not sure I believe in witchcraft,” Sami admitted.

“It doesn’t matter what you call it,” she explained. “It’s mostly how you think. Do you want your house to be protected?”

“Of course.”

“Then you could sprinkle carpet deodorizer or ant bait and it would still work.”

Sami smiled at the image. “Okay, I can go along with that.”

There were several more rituals involving marking the windows and doors with oil and herbs, milk and honey, and pouring the remains on a tree as an offering.

Julie led her in a simple chant of protection, asking all negative energies to release their hold on the house while welcoming all positive forces. She then had Sami ask for peace, love, tranquility, hope, and only positive, nurturing energies to stay in residence.

Amen.
Sami could get behind that no matter how silly she felt doing it.

They were finished by seven. Julie left her with several candles and another sage stick, along with instructions on using them.