The Eighth Gate

16 | An Arrow Through the Heart

Tamara wasted no time in taking action. She swiftly reached for the zipper of her backpack and yanked out a stapled packet of paper, thrusting it into Mary’s hands. Staring down at text printed on it in the dim night, Mary faintly recalled researching the proper chant used to conduct exorcisms, printing out the extended prayer and giving it to Tamara to hold in case they ever needed it. Of course, at the time she was simply being extra cautious, for her conscience’s sake. She didn’t think the day would ever come when she would actually need it.

With her heart pounding fiercely against her ribs, Mary reached for the necklace around her neck—Noah’s necklace—and took it off, holding the cross outwards from her extended hand to ward the demon off, as if it were a weapon. Beside her, Tamara quickly did the same, her stance defensive.

“Let him go,” she demanded fiercely, trying but failing to hide the fear in her voice. “Let him go or else we’ll—we’ll make you.”

Noah’s grin widened so that it nearly split his face. The demon controlling him cackled; it sounded wrong coming from Noah’s mouth, more dark and evil. Every hair on Mary’s body stood up. She felt as if she had stumbled into a nightmare—none of what was happening seemed real. She found it impossible to believe that the person speaking with Noah’s voice, wearing Noah’s face, wasn’t in fact her best friend, but a cruel imposter dead set on killing them all.

Noah’s head cocked to the side as he eyed Tamara calculatingly with eyes that appeared as if his pupils had swallowed up the warm brown of his irises, so that even the whites were a midnight black.

“Well aren’t you two a couple of fools.” His voice was a warped version of Noah’s, all twisted so that it sounded both foreign and familiar, with a sinister edge. “You had the chance to run, yet here you stand. It appears that you have a death wish.”  Still with that gleaming shard of glass gripped so tightly in his hand it drew blood, he took one step towards them; Mary and Tamara took an immediate step back. “And so that wish shall be fulfilled.”

Tamara called out, “Now, Mary!”

She didn’t hesitate. Her eyes dipped down to the packet clutched in her hand, finding the inky words and echoing them with her tongue. Her voice was surprisingly clear as she read the exorcist’s prayer, nerves buzzing beneath the surface in the form of a slight quiver. Still, her words reverberated off into the night with the sort of certainty she’d seen take hold of the professionals who posted their work on YouTube. She imitated the way the exorcists stared down the possessed individual with a fierce glare, as if they carried the wrath of God in their eyes; she tightened her hold on the small cross –blessed by Father Whitlock—in order to hide the tremble in her fingers.

Tamara soon appeared at her side, and she too started reading aloud from the paper, their mingling voices adding more power to their words as they spoke in unison.

Yet something was wrong. Every time Mary glanced up from the packet she’d be met with the same nerve-tightening sight: Noah—or rather, the demon controlling Noah—standing at the edge of the window beneath the shade of the bedroom ceiling, his body still, eyes cold, expression amused.

“Nice try,” he said, speaking above the girls’ chants. “But that won’t work on me.”

Mary and Tamara exchanged glances. Mary was in disbelief; Tamara’s gaze was of accusation, and both were scared out of their minds. They started speaking louder, desperation packed into every syllable. The words scraped through Mary’s throat; she was nearly screaming now.

Mary didn’t understand why the prayer wasn’t working. Could she have gotten a fake one from online? But she had compared it to others, had compared it to the videos she had seen of real exorcisms during her research. The words the priest would say matched the ones she was belting out right now. The demon should be flinching, writhing and crying out in pain. It didn’t make any sense.