The Hero Next Time: A Novel of the Terribly Acronymed Detective Club (Book 4)

Chapter Forty-Nine: Lauren, Sunday

"And I fucking love you too. But this, Lauren... I don't know..."

"Tell me. Trust me."

Rachel was silent a moment before she went on. "So, you remember what I mess I was when we reunited at the memorial, right?"

"Yeah, but you could be forgiven for that, after what Martin Heath did to you."

"So, I was in a pretty dark place. I was angry at everybody, but I had three people I hated the most. Allison, Martin Heath, and my mom."

"Yeah, I remember."

"Anyway," Rachel said, sighing, "I did something I wasn't proud of. Remember how I said I played role-playing games when I was a teenager?"

"Yeah, and then you played them online." She smiled. "Your character was Lorelei the Magnificent, and you based her on me."

Rachel chuckled. "Yeah, that's right."

"You can't imagine how touched I was when you told me that. It confirmed to me that you were still thinking about me even after you moved away."

"Yeah, but I remember you also raked me over the coals for not calling you when I told you that."

"Well, you told me why, and I accept your reason, as ludicrous as it was. We have the wisdom of age to look back on our mistakes at thirteen and laugh about it."

"To be fair, I was almost fifteen when I made that mistake. Anyway," Rachel continued, "I used some of what I learned playing D&D, and some of what I learned on the Internet, to try to summon a demon to kill Allison, Martin Heath, and my mom."

Lauren really wished she could turn her head now, just to look at Rachel's face and see if she was joking. "You tried to summon a demon?" she said, chuckling to cover her discomfort.

"I know," Rachel said ruefully. "Like I said, I was in a pretty dark place. I might have even been having a psychotic break at the time; I never thought it would work, or anything."

"Well, obviously it didn't," Lauren said to play along. "Allison and your mom are still around, and Martin wasn't killed by a demon." She paused as she thought about what to say next. "So, you did the whole ritual thing? The pentagram? Did you do a human sacrifice?"

"No," Rachel said, chuckling. "Just the pentagram, drawn in iron filings and salt, and candles from Pottery Barn; those are the things I'm sure about, because Al helped me clean one of them up. I may have used a drop or two of my own blood, but that part's a little hazy."

Lauren chuckled at the thought of Pottery Barn candles being used in a Satanic ritual, then gasped as she remembered. "Oh, wait the iron filings! I remember when you first had us over at your place; Al discovered iron filings on his hand, and you dropped the wine glasses when you found out."

"Yup. That was embarrassing."

"So, Al must have found out at some point, since he helped you clean one up. How many did you do?"

"One to summon, one to send him back."

Lauren sat still for a second as she processed what Rachel had just said. "Him? Are you telling me something came? From your summoning?"

"It wasn't a demon, or at least I don't think it was. But it was a person I talked to for a few weeks."

"What?!" Lauren sputtered. Rachel was serious about this, and as much as she'd promised her friend she wouldn't think less of her, she was having trouble with this.

"When Al and I talked about it, he likened it to something like an imaginary friend. He was something I created in my mind to help me cope with everything that was happening to me at the time. He was there when I needed him, and he went away when I stopped needing him, which was about the time we had that seance, coincidentally." She paused and whispered in her ear. "Oh, and he watched us have sex that first time, but of course I couldn't tell you that at the time."