Poltergeist Party Girls Page 12
Eighteen
A terrible pain rippled behind my eyes. I blinked, trying to orient myself to my location.
It was dark. Cold, dank air surrounded me, and I something sharp dug into my backside. I reached behind and removed the long object. Smooth and long, it reminded me of a branch.
I couldn’t see. The last thing I remembered was when The Blood Collector possessed Martha Williams. Where was I? Where was Jason?
I took some deep breaths to steady my rapidly beating heart. At least, I was still alive. Nana, why didn’t you prepare me for this part of the magic?
I sat up. Something crunched under my hand. I picked it up and almost puked. I could tell by the feel of the joints that it was a hand. What if this was where Martha and the Blood Collector killed Kara, Mary, and Jeannie? What if Nana's body was here?
Snowball materialized, and in her ethereal glow, I could make out our surrounding area. We were underground. Water dripped from the dirt walls, and as I had discovered. Worse, body parts and empty bottles of bleach surrounded me.
I clapped my hand over my mouth. Too late, I puked.
Three mirror ball orbs appeared. Their bright lights illuminated the tiny dirt chamber even more than Snowball's little glow. Alice Hartley laid up against a wall. Her head drooped to one side, barely clinging to her neck. Someone had slit her throat. An unconscious Jason slumped next to Alice Hartley's body.
Keep it together. I turned to the three orbs.” Can you show us the way out?”
“No, they can’t.” Martha Williams entered the chamber, carrying a knife with a jeweled hilt. Her hair stood out in spikes, angling in different directions as if she’d stuck her hand in an electrical outlet.
"You're destined to fail and die just like Mary, Kara, and Jeannie." Martha clutched at her pearls.
“How did they fail?” My heart pounded loudly.
Martha sneered. “Kelly came to me wanting to use magic to hurt Jeannie and Hunter. I agreed to help her, so I sought out the Blood Collector. He agreed to help me, but I had to break the curse that kept him bound to the Void.”
“You summoned an evil spirit, and the coven tried to stop you,” I said, understanding Nana had been one of the protectors of the town.
Martha's eyes flashed with fire. She rotated and soared to the top of the cavern, and flew until mere inches from my face.
"They failed." The Blood Collector laughed. His voice was more dominant than Martha's.
Jason groaned in the background and pushed himself upright. “Sidney, what happened?”
Blood Collector/Martha glided closer to him. "You awaken young Mr. Hunsinger. Your abilities are growing. Soon, you'll be as capable as your mother."
A disoriented Jason blinked, but quickly stood when he glanced at Alice’s body. “My mother?”
Blood Collector/Martha laughed with a baritone giggle. “Unfortunately, she decided to align herself with the forces of good. She was punished for her choices.”
“She was my mother,” Jason shouted. “You took her from me.”
“And I will give you the same choice, but not now,” Blood Collector/Martha clutched at her pearls. “I’ve been trying to break the curse ever since it was originally placed upon my soul, but there’s always a coven to stop me, but then I met my beloved Martha and Kelly, dark magic users, and they began their own coven.”
Jason caught my gaze. I motioned with hands as if reading a book. I hope he understood I planned to use what we'd learn in the Book of Shadows.
I took a deep breath, willing calm. I had to find a way to stop the Blood Collector. If someone is possessed, it took the light within me. This spell was going to be hard. I reached out. I envisioned a sunrise just like I'd read in the book. Images of a sunrise weren't coming to me. Instead, I saw Emma's bright light, and her head rising out of the computer. Emma. I reached out to Emma.
I reached out to Dr. Smith. To Rudolph. I need help. I pushed my magic out into the astral plane, reaching out with light and desperate need.
“What are you doing?” The Blood Collector/Martha waved its skeletal hand. A wave of energy lifted me and pummeled against the dirt wall, knocking all of the air out of me.
“Sidney.” Jason moved in my direction.
The Blood Collector/Martha waved its other hand and held him suspended in midair. Jason pumped his arms and legs, but he remained captive by the Blood Collector’s power.
“Nothing will stop me this time. Jeannie, Mary, and Kara tried, but they failed.” Blood Collector/Martha pointed a knife up at the orbs. They materialized into rotting corpses with dried flesh and lumps of hair clinging to their skulls. Bony fingers pressed against their throats.
Martha held out her knife. "That Jeannie took my Kelly's fiancée. Hunter cheated on her, and she was so broken-hearted. Kelly wanted to use a love spell to bring him back because was so unhappy. I created a love spell for her, but on her way to the sorority, she ran off the road and died. I had to punish the sisters.” Spittle formed around Martha’s mouth as if she had rabies. “I summoned the Blood Collector. He helped me kill them. To punish them.”
Martha and The Blood Collector separated as the cloaked figure departed from Martha. She landed on her sensible walking shoes, and her pearl necklace broke as individual pearls fell on the dirt floor like small pellets. The Blood Collector swirled in and around the three sad ghosts.
He stopped all of a sudden and turned back to me. Red ember eyes glowed from beneath the hood. “I underestimated you, Sidney Latimer. We will meet, again.”
The Blood Collector faded into a dark mist.
“My love, don’t leave me.” Martha wailed. She raised her knife.
“How did you kill them?” I asked. I had to find a way to free the sorority sisters.
The jewels in the hilt glistened in the aura of the poltergeist party girls. Slowly, she pivoted on her heel. She held out the knife, straight, pointed directly at me.
“I drugged their wine, sliced their throats. Later, I cut their bodies up out near the springs where the college kept an icehouse back at the turn of the century,” Martha said in her sweet grandmotherly voice.
“You die first, dearie.” The blade glinted in the aura of the ghosts.
A head pushed through the dirt wall. Then the rest of her translucent body emerged.
Martha stepped away. “What are you doing here? You’re bound to your location.”
Emma laughed but stopped when she saw Alice’s body and stared. “Not again. You’ve been bad.”
Martha held out the knife. “You can’t harm me. I am protected.” She began chanting in a strange language. Thick, twisty ropes of energy twirled bound Emma.
A laughing Emma flicked her eyes up at the poltergeist party girls. “Show Sidney and her boyfriend the way out.”
Martha stopped chanting. “What are you doing?”
Jason landed with a hard thud on the ground. A confused Martha's eyes darted from me to Jason and then to Emma.
“This is so much fun.” Emma laughed and disappeared. Coiling ropes of energy writhed like celestial snakes around nothing.
Martha screamed. She ran at me with the knife extended. I kicked out her, landing a hard jab on her shin. She dropped the knife. Shrieking and blinded by fury, Martha tripped over a human femur.
She pushed up on her hands, and then rose to her knees. “You will die.”
Emma poofed in front of Martha. “Not today. Sidney, run.”
"You can't stop me. Like you can't stop him," Martha threw the femur at and through Emma. She shrieked like a banshee. Her eyes became milky white, and she reached up and ripped her head off her neck. Green ectoplasm spurted from the neck.
“Run, Sidney. Run.” Jason grabbed my hand and led the way.
The sorority sisters gestured to the right. I could make out what something like a tunnel in the illumination of their ghostly glow. Snowball became visible and meowed.
The cat ran ahead.
Yes, it was a tunnel. A way out.
Nineteen
“Sidney?” Uncle Joe called out to me. Detective Longwood followed him along with three armed deputies.
Martha stumbled into the tunnel. Blood streamed from a thin line around her neck. “My blood will serve and empower him.” She collapsed to the ground and released the knife.
“Call an ambulance,” Detective Longwood ordered.
Jason held my hand tightly, and I searched for three orbs, hoping they were free from Martha Williams and the Blood Collector’s imprisonment. Snowball would be free, too.
Uncle Joe walked over. Jason released my hand when Uncle Joe hugged me. ”Sidney, are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“We’re taking both of you to the hospital and have you checked for internal injuries."
Jason leaned against the tunnel wall.
“Kara, Mary, and Jeannie. Their bones are back there.” I pointed. My teeth chattered. I couldn’t stop shaking. “You’ll find Alice Hartley’s body.”
Uncle Joe shook his head. “Nana would be proud. You found the sorority sisters and their murderer."
“Martha killed them because she blamed them for her daughter, Kelly’s death.”
Uncle Joe nodded. “I remember that. Are they free?”
“I don’t know.”
"Come on. We'll send a recovery team from the GBI to collect their remains, and then we'll return the girls to their families so that they can have a proper burial." Uncle Joe draped his arm around me and guided me to squad car.
“They would like that.”
I smiled. I heard purring at my feet. Snowball rubbed up against my ankle. I’m going to miss her when she passed over.
The ambulance attendants arrived and loaded Martha onto a stretcher. I didn’t think she’d live.
As they carried her passed us, Martha bolted upright. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to tell them."
A black orb bounced above her head. A multitude of shivers erupted through my body, and it felt as if a cold hand squeezed my heart. I clutched at Jason’s hand and pointed “It’s the Blood Collector.”
Twenty
The next day Jason and I returned to the sorority house. It didn't seem as dark and sinister, but sad with the years of neglect and unfulfilled dreams and lives. We'd brought three bouquets of flowers. “I want to say thank you for saving us."
Three orbs materialized in the room and drifted down. They transformed into their true form. A glowing Mary, Kara, and Jeannie stood before me like they were students ready to go to class.
“Are you free of the curse?” I asked.
Mary nodded.
Kara stepped forward. “We’re only here for a few minutes, but you must listen carefully.”
A purring Snowball appeared and rubbed her head up against my leg.
“We were under a curse, and now that our bodies have been found we’re free, The Blood Collector will come for you.”
Jeannie moved closer. ”You will have to be careful, too, Jason. He becomes more powerful with each murder and the more blood he collects. He's looking for a new apprentice. Anyone with a psychic ability will be at risk."
"With the recent unfortunate murders by Martha, The Blood Collector's powers have grown stronger," Kara said.
“Our time grows short,” Mary Turner floated up, becoming more transparent. “Snowball wants to stay with you.”
I looked down at the cat, who cleaned in between her paws with her pink tongue.
“But, she belongs to you.” I couldn’t believe the cat wanted to be with me.
“You’ll need all the protection you can receive when facing the Blood Collector. Snowball will help you." Mary faded out. “Help Emma find her way home. She refuses to go, but she has a home in the light.”
Kara and Jeanette transformed into orbs, and a blinding gold light poured through the windows, and the three orbs floated towards it. Then they were gone.
“What happened?” I asked.
“They found the doorway with the light,” Jason answered. “I saw my Mom’s spirit travel to it when she crossed over."
A photograph drifted down from the ceiling as the light faded away. It was a group shot of the three girls with Mary holding a fluffy white cat. Thank you written across the top.
Epilogue
It’d been a week since the poltergeist party girls traveled onto the Bright Side. No word from Nana. No communication from the Blood Collector.
I sat down on the bench in front of Rudolph Clover’s bench.
His statue shimmered, and he stepped out of his statue. He straightened the cuffs of his sleeves. “Good Morning, Sidney.”
A crow landed on top of his statue head and cawed. “Get away, you foul bird.”
“Good Morning, Rudolph. Have you sensed any changes in Cloverville?”
“Nothing this morning, but . . .” He pointed up. “They still gather and watch me.”
Seven crows lined the rooftop of Birdie’s Café. Always Birdie’s Café.
I pulled out my notebook and made a note.
“Are you learning to write spells?” He sat down beside me.
“No. I’m working on my screenplay. Little details.”
“You haven’t sensed your grandmother, have you?”
“I shook my head, but I heard her voice. She told me I could do this. I know she’s alive, and I will find her.”
Rudolph nodded. I don’t know if he agreed with me or not, but he allowed me to have my hope.
“Any luck locating members of the dark coven?” He asked.
“Jason has been entering names into a database. We’re cross-referencing events and family histories for possible dark coven members.”
“Any results?” Rudolph asked.
“Not yet.”
“I’ll keep you posted.” I stood. “See you, tomorrow. I have to finish up a scene before I report to work. Today, I’m entering auto parts inventory.
Rudolph nodded. “I shall be busy keeping my visage clear of bird excrement.” He scowled at the crow perched on his statue’s head. “Be careful, Sidney. The Blood Collector is gathering strength.” Rudolph’s shimmer dimmed.
“I will be.” Because I believed if I stopped the Blood Collector, then I would find my grandmother.
About the Author
M.J. Waverly writes quirky cozy mysteries and fantasy romance. When she isn’t writing, she likes to hike in the mountains, gathering inspiration from nature and squirrels.
Coming soon in the Cloverville Mystery Series.
Trouble at Thunder Mountain
Haunted Hobgoblin
Spirits of the Season
If you want to know more about Emma, check out Eternally Emma A Cloverville Mystery Short Story
Trouble at Thunder Mountain Excerpt
Hope you enjoyed Sidney’s adventures in Cloverville. Her next ghostly encounter takes her to Thunder Mountain, where rumors swirl a bear is haunting the trails.
Check out Chapter One!
The soles of my feet touched the soft grass, and I sank into the lawn’s emerald lusciousness, connecting me to the land. Surrounded by raised beds of herbs, I inhaled the scents of rosemary, lavender, and sage, reminding me of my Nana, my grandmother.
In a long flowing white gown, the ghost Emma drifted beside me. Thin snaky tendrils writhed in her hair, sort of a Victorian-Medusa look.
“Why are you here?” I asked.
“Something is different around Cloverville. I’m here to investigate.” Emma floated ahead of me.
My soul was on the astral plane. My hand touched a lavender spring. My chest tightened at the memory of my Nana, who vanished from the face of the earth without a trace. There wasn’t any hint or sign of her in the spirit world I had detected.
Nothing but a blank wall.
Total silence.
I stilled. No birds sang. No insects buzzed. A misty gray fog masked the sky lik
e a dreary painting. I tapped into my senses, anticipating darkness and evil.
Emma drifted onward, thinning, becoming more transparent.
A green and growing warmth touched my mind, and a warm breeze brushed against my face. Two weeks ago, I helped release the trapped souls of three sorority sisters to the Light or as my Nana called it, the Bright Side.
Since then, I hadn’t encountered the Blood Collector, a very powerful and evil spirit bound to the Void, but who could temporarily escape to our world. He was the stuff Stephen King horror villains were made of.
“Stay close,” Emma hissed and faded.
A cool breeze brushed against my face, the mist parted, revealing a field of sunflowers. The ten-foot flowers stood like living plant people extending their daisy-shaped faces to the sky, seeking sunlight in the gray mist.
“Sidney, where are you?” My sister, Ava called out to me.
What was my sister doing in this dream? I stepped into the first row of sunflowers. Normally, I encountered my co-worker, Jason Hunsinger from Third Eye Investigations. He had abilities similar to mine, allowing us to meet on the astral plane and to see ghosts. In his case, hear ghosts.
“I’m here,” I called.
Ava rushed at me. “Where am I?” She brushed her short bangs away from her forehead.
“I don’t know.” The hairs lifted on the back of my neck.
The sunflowers leaned in and encircled us, preventing our escape.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
Emma appeared next to me. Even in my dream, the cold breath of death chilled me to the bones.
“Stay close.” Emma motioned with a thin, wispy hand. Her eyes dilated to obsidian black orbs.
I couldn’t see through the encroaching sunflowers in this Van Gogh-vision- quickly-becoming-nightmare. The skies above me darkened as storm clouds roiled and tumbled over another, creating a thick wall of darkness.