The first Sunday church service at Our Lady of Lords started at nine in the morning.
Apparently Mason was allergic to church services (or perhaps the whole concept of institutionalized religion in general) because he’d come up with an excuse that got him out of accompanying Mary to the church two hours before service started in order to meet up with Daniel. Father Whitlock and the rest of the church’s employees and volunteers didn’t get to the modest, pointed-roofed, glass-stained, cross-bearing structure that was Our Lady of Lords until at least eight, so Mary and Daniel would be completely alone to do what needed to be done.
After much convincing of her parents the night before, Mary winded up taking her bike, her nerves, and her two ghost friends along with her. Every part of her screamed not to go, but who else was going to retrieve the bottles of holy water (blessed and prayed over by Father Whitlock himself) that she so desperately needed now that she had a fairly good idea of where the next demonic attack would be? Salazar had given her and Mason all of the supplies he’d had—including his suitcase of special demon-fighting gadgets that he’d finally taught them how to use—but it wasn’t nearly enough, not for the two of them, not for the various locations they would eventually have to face demons in.
They were especially lacking in the holy water department.
And so Mary went ahead and did what Noah kept insisting she do—she texted Daniel and told him what she needed, and that she was willing to pay for it. She was not surprised to get almost an immediate reply with a definite and eager yes. The only small condition, as he’d put it, was that she come to the church alone since he didn’t want anyone else learning about what he was doing for her.
Eyeing the text at her side, Noah had cheered. Mary felt sick.
Now Mary was walking her bike towards the back entrance of the church—the one reserved for staff. She leaned her bike against the church’s side and walked up behind it. Immediately she spotted Daniel standing beneath the shade of the canopied entrance in front of a dingy looking door that required a set of keys to fit into a lock in order to open it. Daniel himself was pristine and neat as usual, with his blond halo of smoothed-down hair, parted on one side and gelled. He was in formal church attire, complete with black slacks, polished shoes and a white button-down shirt with a blue tie that matched his vivid cerulean eyes. He was crisp in a way that Mason wasn’t—whereas it appeared as if Daniel had put a lot of effort into making his appearance so clean he practically sparkled, Mason managed to pull off looking freshly done without much effort at all. He could probably roll out of bed, throw on a shirt and some pants and not even brush his hair and he’d still glow brighter than Daniel.
The moment Mary emerged from the corner of the church, she and Daniel locked eyes. He smiled a 1000 watt smile that made her stomach flutter with nerves. She felt queasy.
“Mary,” Daniel said, eyeing her up and down. It wasn’t like the way Mason eyed her, as if he were appreciatively sizing her up. Daniel’s gaze roamed over her body with a hunger and possessiveness that made Mary want to turn around, hop on her bike and ride away from him as fast as she could.
She forced her lips into a smile. She could do this. She could defend herself. And if for some reason it winded up being that she couldn’t, then Noah was here. And she knew he’d protect her no matter what.
“Morning,” Mary replied. “Thanks for doing this for me.”
“No, no; it’s fine,” he insisted with a wave of the hand. He reached into his pocket and fished out a set of jingling keys. He picked at it for the right one and fit it into the lock on the door as he spoke. “You know, I thought after what happened with Noah, you were done with all of this ghost stuff.”
Mary met Noah’s gaze incredulously. You told him? she mouthed, making sure Daniel’s back was still turned to her.
“Well, yeah,” Noah replied with a shrug. “I eventually had to. How else was I going to explain our constant need for this holy stuff? He wouldn’t give me what I needed unless I told him the truth. But he hasn’t told anyone. He’s a really trustworthy guy. Relax.”
Mary frowned at him, but her attention was quickly diverted back to the squeak of the opening door.
“This is the supply room,” Daniel announced, holding it open for Mary to enter. From an outsider’s perspective the room was dark and cold, and smelled faintly of incense and furniture polish. “I would usually just let Noah pick out what he wanted and he’d pay me and go. We shouldn’t be long.”
Mary nodded, gulped, and entered the room. Noah, Avery gripped in his hand, followed her along with Daniel. The door shut behind her, enveloping her in darkness. The only thing she could hear was the turning of the door’s lock.
“Let me get the lights,” Daniel said. She felt a presence at her side that she knew wasn’t Noah’s or Avery’s, followed by breaths that stirred her hair. She flinched away from it just as the lights clicked on to reveal that Daniel had been standing very close to where she previously was. She immediately wandered deeper into the room in an attempt to put more distance between them. Her skin was already crawling.
The storage room was a modest sized area with yellow light bulbs dangling from the sloping ceiling and floors and walls and a roof made of cheery brown wood. Shelves lined the walls along with various objects that hung from them. The room was a clutter of miscellaneous objects like prayer books and packs of candle wax and cleaning supplies.
“I just need a few bottles of holy water,” Mary said. Her voice sounded strained to her own ears. She couldn’t turn around to meet Daniel’s eyes because that would be like looking at a wild animal that would mistake the contact as an invitation or a challenge. “Then I’ll be out.”
“Take your time,” Daniel replied breezily. “Nobody will get here for at least another hour.”
“Found ‘em,” Noah called. Mary strode towards where he stood peering over a large box. He turned away to chastise Avery for trying to make a miniature statue of Jesus float in the presence of someone like Daniel. Meanwhile Mary picked up as much holy water as she could carry and cradled them in her arms, unable to shake the guilty feeling stirring around in her conscience. She knew this was wrong—she was stealing from a church, a place of sanctity, of cleansing of one’s sins—but where else was she supposed to find something like this?
“You sure you can carry that many on your bike?”
She felt his breath tickle her hair again. Mary whipped around, a bottle plopping to the ground and rolling away. Noah eyed it intensely and it stopped moving abruptly.
“I—Mason’s picking me up,” she stumbled out, taking a step back and nearly tripping when her legs hit the cardboard box behind her. She was telling the truth—Mason had agreed to pick her up from the church when she was ready because she couldn’t possibly ride back by herself with the holy water; and besides, they were supposed to go to Marina Harbor right afterwards. She’d already texted him and he was on his way. She had a sneaking suspicion that the only reason Mason had not wanted to drive her here was because he didn’t want to have to get up so early. He seemed like one of those guys who liked to stay up into the wee hours of the morning before finally falling asleep and waking up sometime in the afternoon. But then again he’d had a rough weekend.
Daniel furrowed his eyebrows, his bottom lip pouting curiously. “Mason? He’s into this whole ghost thing too? Is that why you two are always together now?”
Mary opened her mouth and then closed it, unsure of what to say. Mason had told her when they first met that he cared about what everyone thought of him, but she did not think that was true. To be more specific, he cared about what pretty girls thought of him—screw everyone else. He ignored people’s wide-eyed, dumbfounded, disbelieving gazes as they watched him hang out with Mary in the halls at school, and he always brushed aside any question someone would ask about the two of them.
But still. Unlike Noah, Mary did not trust Daniel. She was almost certain he’d go on and tell Ruth and Bailey and everyone else he hung out with about Mason’s involvement with the paranormal, and that would only complicate things socially, even if there was only one week of school left before winter break. To save Mary the distraction of getting confronted for turning Mason into some sort of crazy ghost hunter like her, she decided to keep it all under wraps.
“He’s tutoring me in math,” Mary said. “So he’s picking me up.”
“At eight in the morning? And he told me you two had a group project together.”
“Well, yeah; we did. We got randomly paired up. It’s how we met. And then it sort of slipped out how bad I was at math, and he offered to tutor me. He’s busy later, so eight in the morning was a good time. I brought a backpack to hide the bottles in so he won’t suspect anything weird. I left it with my bike.”
While Mary mentally patted herself on the back for coming up with such a good lie on the spot, Daniel eyed her with a pensive look on his face, his head cocked.
“You know, Mason was once a terrible student,” he said. Mary was surprised that Daniel had shifted the conversation so that it focused less on her and more on Mason. Surprised and relieved. “Definitely not the kind of guy to tutor anyone.”
She was even more taken aback by what he was saying. She shifted the bottles in her arms. “Really? But he’s so smart.”
“Yeah, but you can be smart and not get good grades. You remember how he used to be, before his sister died, don’t you? Most girls do. He was really something else. Rude, arrogant, didn’t care about anyone’s feelings.” He shook his head. “And his grades were so terrible he nearly flunked his sophomore year. Then his sister died, and he completely changed. I’m not sure what—maybe her death awakened a part of him that made him realize what a… not good person he was.” Mary could tell Daniel was visibly trying not to curse on holy ground. “Come junior year his grades were stellar, all A’s. One thing I noticed was he started wearing long sleeved shirts, even in the heat, which was sort of weird—but it must have been a new style for his new personality, I guess. He stopped dating all together, but he started treating people with more respect, especially girls. He was no longer a player, but a charmer. I don’t know how he does it, but he can make any girl swoon. I used to envy him, but then I met Ruth and learned the ways of the Lord.”
Mary thought it was sort of ironic that he was saying so, because here he was, helping her steal from a church. Whatever happened to Thou shall not steal?
“That’s interesting,” she said, and it was. Mason had given her a brief glimpse into his background the day he told her about Avery’s death, but she didn’t know the change had been so sudden, immediately after she’d died. Still, something as traumatic as that was bound to have some extreme effects. Mary was no different, considering the depression and everything else that happened to her after Noah died.
“I just don’t want you to get the wrong idea. Mason doesn’t date; not anymore. He treats every girl like they’re special. So if you have feelings for him…”
Mary dropped another bottle. “W-what? No, I don’t like him like that. We’re just friends, is all.”
“That’s right,” Noah added fervently, nodding.
Daniel didn’t appear very convinced, but he didn’t push it. He simply bent down and picked up the bottle of holy water, placing it back in her arms.
“I should get going,” Mary said. “Let me get you your money.”
Pinching the bottles under her armpits and elbow creases and chin, she used a free hand to dig into her pocket for the hundred dollars Mason had given her, but then Daniel’s hand clamped around her wrist, making her stiffen.
“Wait, wait,” he said, stepping close enough to her that his chest hit her folded arm. Mary tried to shuffle backwards but the box digging into the backs of her legs kept her from doing so. Her heart sped up, fueled by a panic caused by the hungry look in Daniel’s eyes. “When you said you’d pay me, money wasn’t what I had in mind.”
Mary swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. Noah had appeared beside her, gazing at Daniel confusedly.
“Daniel? What are you…”
Mary made a sudden move to slip away from him but his hold on her wrist tightened. She cried out as he yanked her to him, the bottles scattering from her hands and pattering to the floor. She was suddenly dizzy with fear and adrenaline; her heart pounded in her ears. He gripped her forearms and slammed her back into the shelves, pinning her painfully against them.
“Let me go,” she gasped, trying to lift her knee to his groin but the kick kept missing. It seemed way easier in the movies; that was for sure.
“Shh,” Daniel hushed as Mary struggled in his grasp. His breath was hot against her face. “I just want to touch you a little, nothing big. It’s a small payment, really.”
Noah, who was momentarily frozen in shock by what was happening, snapped out of it and lunged at Daniel.
“Let her go!”
A sudden violent gust of wind smacked forcefully into Daniel and blew at Mary’s clothes and hair. Daniel went flying as if he had just gotten hit by a speeding car. Mary, breathing heavily, stared at Daniel’s unmoving form as he lay in a crumpled heap after hitting the wall by the door and sliding down. Her eyes were wide, her mouth agape. She had no idea Noah possessed this much power.
“Mary, snap out of it!” Noah cried. “He’s knocked out; he’ll wake up any minute now. Take the bottles and go!”
Mary bent down, her shaky fingers fumbling to collect the bottles. Then she ran out the door, juggling them in her arms, relief washing over her when she turned the corner and saw Mason’s car waiting for her in the church’s parking lot. Noah wheeled the bike with his Star Wars force, its rhythmic ticking sounding behind her as she ran.
Mary tugged on the car door handle but it was locked. She pounded on the window and heard the clicking of a lock, then tried again.
“Easy—“ Mason’s voice greeted her the moment she yanked the door open, clearly irritated. She climbed inside and slammed the door, gasping as if she were dying from asphyxiation.
“Hello to you, too,” he added, his tone shifting to one of curiosity. “You look like you’ve been running for your life. Was there a demon in the church? No, wait, demons can’t enter that place. It’s holy ground.”
While Mary dumped the holy water onto her lap, one of them falling to the floor of the car, Noah had opened trunk and placed Mary’s bike inside, all without using his hands. Mary watched him do so from the rearview mirror with amazed horror. He’d definitely gotten more powerful. Or maybe he was high off adrenaline, like she was. Could that even happen to ghosts?
“Careful, Alcott,” Mason warned. “You get one scratch on this baby and you’re… I don’t know how to properly threaten someone who is already dead, but when I figure it out I’ll get back to you.” Avery was already sitting in the backseat while Noah fussed with the bike. “Hi, Avery,” Mason added, eyeing the mirror. “What happened? Did one of the scary monsters attack you guys?”
Avery nodded, fear flashing in her green eyes. Noah appeared in the backseat beside her, the trunk now closed.
“Yeah,” Noah scoffed. “If you consider Daniel Perry a demon. Which wouldn’t be too far off, actually.”
Mason turned to Mary, clearly expecting an explanation. But she was a mess of shaken nerves and erratic breathing. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the window, expecting Daniel to pop up from around the corner of the church and go after her. And soon he did pop up, but he stopped in his place immediately when he noticed Mason’s car. His expression was one of cold, calculating fury hidden beneath a placid façade.
“Drive,” Mary ordered breathlessly. Mason peeled out of the parking lot without a word, no doubt catching sight of Daniel. Daniel watched the car go without moving, his arms crossed tightly across his chest.
“I can’t believe that guy,” Noah ranted from the backseat. “He always seemed so nice! So—so good! How could I have missed that? We were neighbors for god’s sake.”
“Can someone please tell me what just happened?” Mason demanded once again. He stopped at a red light and met Noah’s gaze from the mirror.
“Do you want me to tell him, Mary?” Noah asked her quietly, leaning into her seat. She shrugged, more focused on inhaling and exhaling deep, calming breaths.
“Mason. Your friend here—“
“He’s not my friend,” he corrected. “I don’t have friends. I have people I party and drink and screw around with but I don’t have friends.”
Noah gave him an agitated look. “Whatever. Daniel tried to touch Mary in a very inappropriate way in exchange for the holy water. He, like, forced himself onto her.”
“He’s done it once before,” Mary added quietly. She suddenly couldn’t stand to hold it in any longer, even if she was ashamed of it.
“What?” Noah cried, outraged. “When? Where? Did he—did he—“
“It was at that huge pool party we went to our sophomore year. I had one of those bathing suit tops that you tied up from behind, and he… he undid the ties and… he saw me topless,” she rushed out in a low mumble. Her face burned with shame.
“Oh, God.” Noah sucked in a sharp breath; he looked like he was going to be sick. His face already held the pale pallor of death, but Mary could have sworn it had gotten even more blanched now. Mason’s fingers tightened on the steering wheel until his knuckles went white. Then he slammed the breaks in the middle of the road.
Mary glanced out the windows. There were no cars approaching, but this was still very illegal. “Mason, what are you doing?”
“Stopping the car so I can get out and walk back to the church. It’s not far.”
“What? Why—“
“If he laid a finger on you, Mary, he’s going to pay.” His jaw was locked, his entire body so stiff he as trembling with rage.
“No,” Mary said. “No, Mason; it’s not worth it. Just forget it—“
“Don’t, Mason,” Noah interjected, his gaze just as flat and threatening as the boy he was addressing. “Don’t worry. Daniel’s going to pay; we’ll make sure of it. Just not right now.” He threw a pointed glance at Mary, who was still shaken up, her fingers trembling.
Mason understood. He was silent for a few moments before he shifted the car gear back into drive and hit the gas pedal.
†††
They were on their way to Marina Harbor when Tam texted her.
Mary had been so distracted with the morning’s events and with worrying about meeting with Daniel that she had completely forgotten about her ex-best friend until her phone buzzed.
Tamara: finishing up with setting up the last electromagnetic detector, should b done in 5
After yesterday’s discovery regarding the map and the pentagram which determined the demons’ next place of attack, Mary had contacted Tam with the news. Tamara offered to use the detectors she had for when they used to investigate houses and other abandoned buildings. These detectors used to be placed in different parts of the structure they were investigating, and each time it picked up a spike in electromagnetic radiation, it would beep wildly and alert Mary and her friends of the presence of a ghost in that specific part of the building or house. Tam did something similar this morning, going around town with her father and the map Mary had drawn on the night before, placing the detectors in each location she had dotted. Tam and her father planned to somehow alter the alert the devices gave off using their techy skills to make it so that Mary, Mason, and Tam received warnings on their phones whenever a spike went up. The warning would specify the location of the device that detected the spike, which, if Mary was right, would be one of the points of intersection on the pentagram.
Mary texted Tamara back, asking her to meet them at Marina Harbor once she finished. She had agreed to accompany Mary and Mason to Marina Harbor to face down a demon only because she was afraid to lend her equipment out to the two of them. As they pulled into a parking spot in a lot set up beside the docks, Tamara replied to Mary’s text, stating that her dad was going to go home first and then she’d ride her bike from the house and meet them over there.
“Tam’s on her way,” Mary told everyone. “She already set up the electromagnetic detectors.”
“Does this mean one of those things could go off during school?” Mason asked. “Because, you know, midterms start tomorrow and even though the idea of ditching class in the middle of an exam to go kick some demon ass sounds appealing, the truth it I’m not sure I could go through with it.”
“You don’t have to,” Mary assured. “I’ll go.”
Mason twisted the car keys in the ignition, and his rumbling Camaro shut off. “Which means that I have to go.”
Mary frowned at him. She was really not in the mood to get into this age old debate again. With a sigh she got out of the car, taking a bottle of holy water and stuffing it in her bag, just in case.
“Let’s go check this place out.”
Marina Harbor was a line of docks and ports and little seaside shops with dilapidated awnings and zero space between the end of one and the start of another. It was perhaps as old and worn as Cullis Port’s only cemetery, and always reeked of rotting wood and fresh fish and ocean brine. The cold, humid wind was especially violent today, coming off the ocean as if pushed onto the docks by the rough waves battering against the creaking wood, sometimes reaching high enough that they would collapse onto the planks in a fizzling sheet of foam. The Harbor was decorated festively for the upcoming holidays—which were only a week away. Christmas lights hung from the rooftops of the line of shops, yet it was too bright outside to see them glow. The occasional wreath hung from a door and garlands wrapped around wooden posts, embedded with blood red poinsettias.
The Harbor was especially empty this morning, as it was on most Sundays. Mary’s hair whipped around her as she, Mason and the two ghosts in their company walked along the docks, passing by fishing shops and bathing suit stores and seafood restaurants with outdoor eating accommodations. Soon they would pass the hole-in-the-wall mini supermarket that Mary’s mother always bought her fish at, freshly caught and sliced. When Mary was younger, her mom would take her along. The sight of the fish’s beady, open eyes staring back at her from where they adorned a sliced head resting on chilled ice behind the clear counter window of the store always frightened her.
To Mary’s right, across the cluttered row of shops, was the ocean, separated by a long, continuous thick rope that dangled from the short end of one wooden post to the next, set on the edge of the wide boardwalk. It was low enough that it didn’t block much of the view of the ocean, yet high enough that it served its purpose: to keep people from falling over into the choppy waters. Occasionally there was a break in this line of rope as the docks extended outwards into the sea. These docks were set at intervals along the Harbor and were always soaked with ocean water and cluttered with shipment crates. There were posts set on the edges on these particular outstretches of wood from which thick ropes were tied. Bobbing haphazardly from their ends were boats of varying sizes. Most were pale white and filthy with grime and had some sort of clever name printed on its side like The Codfather, or Seas the Day.
“Remember when we used to come here to get some ice cream at that shop over there, Mary?” Noah asked her. “Me, you and Tam. And we’d sit on one of the wooden benches and look at all the boat names while we licked our cones.”
“Yeah,” Mary said fondly with a faint smile. “And then we’d get close to the edge and try to escape getting wet when a big wave splashed onto the docks.”
“Tam was always a squealer,” he said with an eye-roll, and the two of them laughed.
“Sorry to interrupt your conversation with air,” Mason said pointedly, “but do you see anything suspicious?”
Mary tore her eyes away from Noah’s to meet Mason’s vividly green gaze. She had been so caught up reminiscing over the past that she hadn’t given their current situation much thought. Her eyes scanned over the area they were currently standing at from the center of the boardwalk, catching a mother and child feeding bread crumbs to a squawking herd of seagulls by a bench, the occasional boater throwing fishing nets into the water or unloading cargo crates, a lonely old man sipping coffee at one of the outdoor tables of a restaurant.
The atmosphere was very calm and very quiet. No sense of foreboding threading through the air, no heavy weight of anticipation pressing down on everything. Just an overcast sky shrouding a rising sun, the rhythmic sounds of the ocean, and air whistling in Mary’s ear. A typical quaint, peaceful Sunday morning.
“Maybe the demon won’t attack today,” Mary suggested. “Maybe it’s not the right time.”
“Or the right place,” Mason said. “What if they’re actually targeting the cove since they failed last time?”
“Salazar said he would call if that was the case.” The World Religions teacher had instructed Mary and Mason to investigate the Harbor while he kept watch at the cove for any sign of a demon. “But I really don’t think—“
“Hey!” Everyone turned around to see Tam speed-walking towards them, her arm raised, hand waving, and her windbreaker rippling around her torso. Her bike was resting on one of benches on the boardwalk, a little ways behind her. She reached Mary and smiled, her auburn hair tied up and a few loose strands blowing across her face. “This place brings back memories, huh?”
“The last time I was here was with you and Noah,” Mary told her. That had been more than a year ago.
“Really? Wow.” Her dark eyes wandered over to Mason, and her smile weakened so that it managed to be both flirtatious and shy. “Hey, Mason. I heard about what happened to you at the cove. Any guy would have totally fallen for that trick. I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“I wouldn’t have,” Noah snorted as Mason turned to Mary.
“You told her?”
Mary shrugged a shoulder. “Well, yeah. Tam’s a part of this too, you know.” She was mildly irritated that Tamara was acting like she cared so much about Mason’s well-being when she’d gagged and spoke lightly of the situation when Mary had told her about it.
Mason sighed heavily through his nostrils. “Whatever. Yeah, thanks, Tammy. You look good, by the way. Without all the makeup, I mean.”
Mary hadn’t realized it before, but Mason was right. Tamara was dressed unusually simply, with jeans and an oversized navy blue windbreaker that probably belonged to her dad. A giant backpack hung from her shoulders. She had no makeup on whatsoever; her face was naked and her hair was tied into a abnormally messy ponytail. If she were wearing glasses, she would have looked just like the best friend Mary used to have before Noah died.
Tamara was visibly surprised by the compliment, her eyebrows raised. “Really? Um, thanks.”
Mason winked at her, and she bit her lip, batting her eyes flirtatiously. Noah made a puking sound.
“Anyway,” Tam went on, “so I already synchronized the alert on the electromagnetic radiation detectors using your phone numbers. You’ll receive a text if one goes off telling you where its located and how high the spike is.”
“Perfect,” Mary said. Mason shook his head.
“I still can’t believe you’re smart enough to do something like that,” he said. “You’ve been holding out on me, Tammy.”
“Trust me,” Tamara replied. “We both know there is only one possible instance in which I might have been holding out on you, and that definitely was not the case.”
Mason grinned blindingly, and Tam giggled, and Mary wanted to face palm herself.
“Is that all those two talk about?” Noah muttered. “Sex?”
“Looks like it,” she mumbled. Then, much louder: “All right, so I guess we just wait around for something bad to happen. Right?”
Noah agreed, Tam nodded, and Mason shrugged. Minutes soon turned into hours, and the sun rose higher in the sky, marking the progress of the day. Nothing exceptional happened except that Mason got attacked by a seagull just as he was about to take another bite off of his fish sandwich. The bird had swooped down and plucked his half-eaten lunch right out of his hands, sending everyone—even Avery—into a laughing fit.
After that they waited some more. Mason had never been here before, so Mary and Tam gave him a small tour of the Harbor, introducing him to the ice cream shop they’d always stop at and the supermarket Mary’s parents bought their seafood from. Eventually the sun dulled as it began its plunge towards the horizon, taking on a deep orange color that painted the grey skies a faint mix of pink and gold. Nobody’s cell phone had gone off, save for the occasional call from a parent. Mary had to be home by five, and Tam and Mason wanted to go early as well for some last-minute studying for exams tomorrow. Before everyone went their separate ways, though, Tam reached behind her and tugged off her stuffed backpack, extending it to Mary.
“Here,” she said. “I won’t be doing the demon-hunting stuff until next weekend, after midterms. I need to focus on my grades. So I’m entrusting you with all my equipment now that you know how to properly care for and use them.”
Mary stared at the backpack. It was probably supposed to be used for hiking, or something, based on its size and how many zippers it had. But instead it held hundreds of dollars’ worth of high-tech ghost hunting technology Tam had bought herself. She suddenly felt very overwhelmed by the idea of her ex-best friend trusting her enough to let her borrow her equipment—her children, her most treasured possessions—without her supervision. It spoke volumes about how far the pair had come since this whole thing started a year ago. It looked like they were finally taking a step forwards in rebuilding the friendship they once had. Mary smiled and took the weighty backpack, fighting back happy tears.
“I’ll take care of them, Tam,” she said firmly. “I promise.”
†††
Two days passed. Midterms were grueling. Mary had taken her AP English Lit exam on Monday, which she was sure she passed with at least a B, but Tuesday she had AP Calculus, and she was sure she either failed or just barely passed with a C. With nothing going on in the paranormal world, Mary finally shifted her focus to her studies and went straight home on the bus after school with plans to cram for her U.S. Government and World Religions exams the next day.
But then her phone buzzed with an alert text.
It was an image of a map of Cullis Port with a glowing red dot blinking urgently on its northwest side. Below the image were the words DEMONIC ACTIVITY DETECTED @ MARINA HARBOR. EMF READING: 8.3
Mason texted her right afterwards, asking if she’d received the alert. She replied that she had, and the two made plans for Mason to pick her up so they could rush over there before it was too late. Mary grabbed the backpack Tam had given her and the suitcase Salazar had presented her with and waited outside for Mason’s sleek car to pull into the driveway. She got inside and the two sped through the streets, Noah and Avery anxiously occupying the backseat.
“Avery stays out of any fighting,” Mason said as he made a sharp turn. “Got it?”
Noah looked insulted. “Of course.” Mason was too focused on the road to make eye contact with the rearview mirror, so Mary repeated Noah’s words to him.
Marina Harbor was busier than it had been on Sunday. There were more people going in and out of shops, more boats docked, more seamen unloading and reloading shipments. It only made Mary’s job more difficult. With so many people, how could they possibly pinpoint the demon’s next target? Or were they too late already?
“Keep your eyes peeled,” Mary told Noah. “Mason might not be able to see the demons, but we can.”
Noah nodded. “I’m going to go scan the area. Avery, stay with your brother.”
Noah went off, and Avery remained by Mason’s side. She didn’t have to be told to do that; it was all she ever really wanted, anyway.
So Mary was surprised when about a minute later the little girl stiffened as something to her right caught her eye. Then she detached herself from Mason’s side and began gliding towards a dock with two boats tied to either side of it, and a man lifting crates from one of them.
“Avery, wait!” Mary called, rushing after her. The girl stopped and turned back to look at Mary, her eyes wide with fear as she extended a finger to point at the boat to the right of the dock, swaying in the water. “What is it?” she whispered. “Is the demon in there?”
Avery nodded. Mary reached into Tam’s backpack and shuffled through its contents
“What’d she say?” Mason demanded.
“The demon’s in that boat. But I’m going to make sure by using this thingy.” She pulled out the EMF meter and neared the boat, being sure not to get close enough to provoke any suspicion from the man bent over one of the crates he had set onto the slippery dock. After a few moments of fumbling with the buttons, she managed to get it to work, and sure enough its number read 8.3. It began beeping loudly, and Mary quickly shut it off, stuffing it back into the bag. “Yeah,” she breathed. “It’s in there. Which means either the man over there is its target, or there’s someone else inside that boat.”
“Only one way to find out,” Mason said. He took a step towards the boat but Mary gripped his sleeve.
“Wait.” She pulled out a mini infrared camera and toyed with the many buttons for a few moments, trying to figure out how to turn it on. She suddenly, briefly, and very intensely wished Tam was here. But she had made it clear she wanted nothing to do with demon hunting during midterms week, and Mary didn’t want to push her when everything between them was so sensitive at the moment. She handed the camera to Mason. “Here. This’ll help you see the demon. The screen is supposed to look like a smear of blue and green and yellow, but when you place the camera in front of a person or ghost you’ll see the silhouette glow in red or bright orange. That’s how you tell the difference between object and ghost. Got it?”
Mason nodded. Mary opened Salazar’s suitcase and gave Mason the salt gun Salazar had taught them to use. She slipped a glove into her hand and a flask of holy water into her coat pocket. The gun was made out of pure steel and was rather heavy; it was loaded with balls of salt dried with holy water to weaken a demon. The holy glove was probably the most useful weapon; according to Salazar, it basically had the ability to detach a spirit or demon from its host’s body, undoing a possession.
Soon Noah reappeared, and she told him about Avery’s discovery.
“Good job, Avery,” Noah told the girl, ruffling her wet hair. She beamed.
“Let’s go,” Mary said. She and her crew marched up to the boat, but then stopped when the seaman’s eyes landed on them, narrowing with suspicion.
“What’re y’all doin’ here?” he asked with a heavy southern accent. “These docks is for workers only. They’re wet; ya’ll can slip easily.”
“Um, we just wanted to check something out in this boat here,” Mary said, hating how unsure she sounded about her lie. There was no way he was going to buy this. “My friend here was playing ball with me and he threw it too high. We think it landed inside the boat.”
As she’d expected, the man simply blinked at her and grimaced. “Nobody is allowed on the boats except for personnel. Sorry, girl.”
“But—“ Mary broke off as she was tugged backwards by a firm grip on her arm.
“Let me handle this,” Mason muttered in her ear. “You have a pretty face, Mary, but you don’t know how to use it. I’ll show you how it’s done.”
Mary wasn’t sure what Mason meant by showing her how it was done, unless the pretty face he was referring to him using was the one of Benjamin Franklin, printed on a one hundred dollar bill that he discreetly slipped to the seaman.
Mason turned back to her with a cocky smile and gestured for her to follow him. They reached a ladder that led up into the boat, and he stepped aside so that Mary could climb first.
“After you, my lady,” he said with a slight bow.
Mary rolled her eyes at him and proceeded climbing, gripping the metal, rusted railing with one gloved hand and one naked one. Noah and Avery were already at the top when she got there, scanning the area of the boat for any sign of a demon. The boat rocked back and forth quite violently, sending Mary falling backwards, right into Mason’s hard chest. He held her steadily by the elbows, but his closeness only made her feel weak.
“Easy there,” he said, his chin just grazing the top of her head. He was so warm; his cologne made her heady. “You okay?”
Mary nodded, remembering the way it felt to be pressed against him that night in the cove.
“This would be a lot harder if I were alive,” Noah said. “I get seasick.”
“I remember,” Mary replied, stepping out of Mason’s arms. He held the camera out and slowly moved it over the area of the boat, clinging to the edge of the boat for balance. Mary watched the screen of the camera as well, gripping his sleeve to keep herself steady.
Then they saw it. A silhouette of a man, glowing a deep orange that bled into a bright red the closer it got to the center of his body. Noah quickly went to investigate, going straight through a small room and out the other side, towards the very tip of the boat.
“It’s a man,” Noah called out. “A worker.” Mary quickly discerned the same thing, watching as the silhouette on the camera’s screen worked its arms to cast a net out into the sea.
And then the demon came out of hiding, moving so quickly Mary and Mason hardly had time to react. In a flash it appeared behind the unsuspecting man, and Noah blasted it away—but the hit wasn’t strong enough to eradicate the demon. It made a strange hissing sound, and suddenly long nails began growing out of its limbs, a single horn protruding from its forehead. Without the camera, Mary saw it as a black shadow with menacing red eyes narrowed into slits and no mouth or nose. It was hideous to the point that she thought she was going to be sick. Or perhaps that was simply the rocking movements of the boat.
She worked against these dizzying movements and made her way across the boat towards the demon, Mason at her side.
“You see it?” Mary whispered to him.
“Yeah,” he replied, eyeing the camera. He pulled out the holy gun and pointed it straight ahead. “I’ll shoot it.”
The gun was surprisingly silent, clicking subtly each time a bullet went out. He missed the first two times, but finally got it the third, and after that the demon kept dodging each shot. As Noah and Mason attacked the howling demon, Mary rushed over to the man, who was just about to turn the corner to investigate what was going on.
“Sir, wait,” Mary gasped out. But she quickly realized that he had nowhere to go; his movements were halted abruptly by the weight of a large anchor that had somehow been tied to his ankle without him noticing.
The demon had planned to throw him overboard and watch him sink.
“What the…?” he muttered, toeing the tied rope. He met Mary’s gaze with narrowed eyes. “Did you do this?”
“No, but you need to get out of here.” She slid to her knees and untied the rope; it was surprisingly difficult to do so, especially with nervous fingers and a shaky ground.
“You’re the one who needs to get out of here,” he replied, his anger rising. “This boat is reserved for authorized personnel only.”
Mary fisted his shirt in her hands. She noticed a cross hanging from his neck. “Look, I know it sounds crazy, but there’s something after you. You need to get out of Marina Harbor as fast as you can before it’s too late.”
His gaze became frosty, a stark contrast to his reddening face. The man yanked Mary’s hand off him. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, but you definitely sound crazy. You have one more chance to leave before I—“
“Look out!” Noah called, and Mary whipped around to see the demon lunging straight at her and the man. She flinched and whipped out her holy water just as she was slammed against the boat’s edge, nearly going over the railing. She felt the backpack on her back shift, and a weight fled from it. In her haste, Mary had not closed the zipper all of the way. She craned her neck and watched in horror as the black voice box plummeted down along with her heart, into the violent water with a splash.
But she had no time to dwell. The demon was now lifting the anchor, prepared to throw it over the edge of the boat so that it met the same fate as Tam’s voice box. It was clearly struggling with the task, though, possibly because Noah and Mason had weakened it so much. Mary saw that the rope was now tied around the man’s ankle again. As he eyed the floating anchor with wide eyes and an open mouth, Mary flung holy water at the demon. Mason appeared around the corner along with Noah, a red gash on his forehead. Apparently he’d gotten attacked.
Mason whipped out his gun again, and Noah used his force, and Mary splashed the demon with holy water as it hissed and cried and howled and eventually disappeared, back to where it came from.
The man, frozen in shock, snapped out of his trance the moment the anchor crashed onto the boat’s floor. Trembling all over, his gaze bounced between Mason and Mary, clearly frightened by their presence. Then he ran off, taking Mary’s advice and getting himself the hell away from Marina Harbor—and most importantly, away from her.
†††
“Psst.”
Mason’s hands stilled beneath the running water, his body stiffening all over.
Last he’d checked five seconds ago, he’d been alone in this particular school bathroom. He lifted his gaze to the mirror almost warily, already anticipating what he might witness.
Sure enough, Noah Alcott stood a few feet behind him, his dark gaze intense.
Mason went back to rinsing his hands. “Alcott,” he greeted the dead boy. “Is this how you spend your free time? Watching boys use the bathroom? I should have known.”
He grimaced, crossing his arms in a failed attempt at looking gruff. Instead he looked like an uncomfortable child. “Shut up. I’m not here because of that and you know it.”
Mason turned the faucet and yanked out a couple of paper towels, drying his hands as he spoke. “Where’s my sister?”
“What, did you want me to bring her into a boy’s bathroom?”
“Of course not, dumbass. I still would like to know of her whereabouts, if that’s okay with you.”
“She’s with Mary,” Noah replied, and the way he said her name made it sound like it was a song, sweet and tender. “She’s watching her struggle over the U.S. Government test she’s currently taking.”
Mason raised an eyebrow. “During lunch?”
“Mary gets extended time on exams now because of her… condition. Her psychological condition, I mean. The school system is required to make special accommodations like that for her.”
“Oh,” Mason replied lamely. He rolled up the paper towels into a big ball and tossed it basketball-style into the trash bin on the other side of the bathroom. He made it in perfectly. “Well, I guess that’s a good thing, right? She gets extra time on tests even though she doesn’t really need it. Since she’s not crazy.”
“Yeah,” Noah agreed almost reluctantly, clearly bothered by the fact that people thought otherwise of her. “Anyway, I didn’t come here to talk to you about her.”
“Really? Well, there’s a first for everything.”
“I’m here because I want Daniel to pay for doing those things to Mary. And I want your help.”
Mason stood up straighter from where he was leaning on the sink. “Do continue.”
Noah’s frown quirked up into a satisfied smirk. “Well…”
†††
“I’m serious, man, you’ve gotta see this,” Mason told Daniel as he led him towards the boy’s bathroom. “It’s the biggest roach you’ll ever see in your life.”
“I don’t know if I want to see the biggest roach I’ll ever see in my life,” Daniel replied hesitantly, standing just outside the door.
Mason slapped his back harder than was necessary. God, just being within the same building as this kid made him want to hit something. Or rather, hit him. Hit him over and over…
“Come on, dude. It’s fucking colossal. Just look at it and you’re out. All right?”
Daniel hesitated. “Fine. But if you’re expecting me to kill it I won’t. All animals are creatures of God, and they deserve to live on this earth just as much as—“
“Yeah, yeah, God is great, the circle of life goes on, we should all hold hands and sing kumbaya. I get it. Now go.”
Daniel did so, opening the bathroom door. Mason followed him inside, meeting Noah’s triumphant gaze through the mirror.
“It’s in that third stall, on the toilet seat,” Mason said. Daniel went to said stall and peered inside. He looked back up at Mason. “I don’t see anyth—“
“Daniel,” Noah said, and Mason could hear his ghostly voice, breathy and echoing through the bathroom, even without his eyes on the mirror. So this was what a true ghost sounded like. It gave him reluctant goose bumps. Mason smiled to himself and leaned against the tiled wall, prepared for the show.
Daniel froze. He looked at Mason. “Did you—did you hear that?”
Mason furrowed his brows. “Hear what, man? I didn’t hear anything. But hey, did you find that roach? Maybe it ran into another stall, or something.”
“Daniel Perry…” Noah said, and Mason watched in satisfaction as Daniel blanched, his eyes widening in fear.
“I—I heard my name. Someone said my name… Are you playing with me, man? If so, then stop it.”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mason replied with a shrug.
Daniel turned to the mirror. “I’m telling you, I—ah!”
He squealed like a little girl, and Mason bit his lip to keep from bursting out into a laugh. Daniel caught a brief glimpse of Noah’s reflection through the mirror, staring straight at him.
“I saw—I saw—but it can’t be!” Daniel blubbered. “He’s dead! What the—oh God, help me!” He prayed, his palms pressed together as he gazed up to the ceiling imploringly.
“You hurt Mary,” Noah’s eerie voice spoke. “Now you pay…”
“No,” Daniel cried. Mason tried to summon up some pity for the boy—for the fact that he was actually crying, with tears streaking down his face—but he failed. “No!”
Daniel made a run for the door and pulled on its handle, but Noah was keeping it closed.
“You will pay…” Noah continued. Daniel pounded on the door, sliding down onto his knees. “I will haunt you forever for what you did.”
“Help! Somebody help me! God help me!” Daniel turned back to the bathroom, his back against the door. He looked like a frightened, caged animal. Mason was thoroughly delighted. “I’m sorry!” he cried out. “I’m sorry, Noah! I didn’t mean it, I swear! Please don’t do this; I’ll do anything!”
Noah snickered, but it probably sounded like an evil laugh to Daniel’s ears. Mason watched as Noah continued with his psychological torture until Daniel was a crumpled mess on the tiled bathroom floor, wallowing in his tears and snot. He was curled up in a ball, his knees against his chest like a child, his hands pressed to his ears. He kept apologizing over and over, his voice a hoarse, whispery record set on repeat.
When the lunch bell rang, Mason slowly detached himself from the wall and stepped over Daniel’s trembling figure. He opened the door and said, “You’re a pathetic scumbag. Try to remember that the next time you try to lay your filthy hands on another girl.” Then he stepped out into the hall and walked away.
___________________________________________
A/N-Chapters are probably going to be this long from now on because I'm trying to speed up the story and make it end quicker. I probably won't finish this story by the time I go to college in 2 weeks despite this, but oh well. Anyway, comments on this chapter? It's 4 am and I need to sleep so I'll read this over for some silly mistakes tomorrow. How do you think Tam's goig to react to hearing her precious voice box is now resting with the fish at the bottom of the ocean?? Votes and comments are encourged! Good night xx