Dinner was simple in the nicest way. I insisted on helping prepare the meal, even though it was just spaghetti with store-bought garlic bread. But it felt good to keep myself busy by doing something normal. Ethan had been right; I really did need a moment. It was nice to step back from everything—from Luc, from Matilda, from the fact that someone else had taken up residence in my body—even if it was just for a little while.
After dinner, Ethan stepped away to help his grandmother get ready for bed and I was left alone with Polly at the table. Silence settled over us, the air uneasy and tight. I studied my empty plate to keep myself from making eye contact. I knew what was coming...
"Don't worry," Polly said, finally, reaching for the bottle of wine she had bought. "I'm not going to bombard you with questions until Ethan is back."
"Lucky me," I grumbled.
Polly snickered. At least the wine was putting her in a better mood. She poured some into my empty water glass, finishing the bottle.
"Are you trying to loosen me up so I'll talk?" I said. Even if she was, I didn't care. As the memory of my hangover faded, it started to look more appealing... Especially as I knew it would dull the low throb of pain that echoed through my body. I reached for my glass.
"Not exactly," Polly said with a small laugh, leaning back in her chair. "But breakups are always a little easier with a drink. Even I know that."
I froze with the glass at my lips.
"Chill out, Rach," she said, eyeing me from over the edge of her own glass. "It doesn't take a genius to figure it out. You are Luc broke up, didn't you?"
I sighed and put my glass on the table. "Something like that."
"Mhmm." Polly took another long drink.
"I thought it might've been something like that." Ethan had returned. He had changed into sweatpants and an oversized hoodie. He reclaimed his seat at the table.
"Yeah, cause you're a psychic."
"Not that kind of psychic," Ethan said, before turning back to me. "And I'm sorry, Rachel."
My eyes stung. I blinked hard and looked away. "Thanks," I said in a small voice.
"Yeah, so... What happened?" Polly asked pointedly, swilling her glass.
Ethan rounded on her. "Hey, if she isn't ready to talk, she doesn't have to—"
"Yes she does," Polly countered. "If this were any other time, any other guy, I'd let her take her time. But since it's fucking Luc—" she spat his name, "—there's no time to cry over him. Rachel's in some kind of danger. She's possessed, remember? And he's gone."
Ethan had no response for that. He turned back to me, his light grey eyes locking with mine. I knew that he could probably see the whole tangle of images in my head—
At the centre of me, something tensed, pulling in tight, seeking refuge from Ethan's invading gaze.
Ethan narrowed his eyes as he stared at me, tilting his head like a cat.
"Can you... can you see it?" I breathed.
"Not quite," Ethan replied, his gaze still focussed. "I can see something, like a shadow behind your eyes, but nothing definite, no detail."
"So it is still in there," I said, my shoulders sagging.
"Obviously," Polly snapped. "Now can we talk about how it got there?"
Ethan sighed, closing his eyes, breaking our connection. The thing inside me loosened, relaxing. It didn't seem to like Ethan digging around.
"Do you want to?" Ethan asked me, opening his eyes again.
"No, honestly," I said. I threw up my hands. "But what choice do I have?"
"Exactly," Polly said with a smack of her lips. "You're gonna have to spit it out eventually. The sooner you start, the sooner it's over."
I sighed. "I don't even know where to start. What exactly do you know?"
Ethan shrugged. "All I know was what Polly told me while we were out doing the shopping. About that nutso ex-mentor... Matilda?"
"And that story," Polly continued, "was pretty rushed and incomplete 'cause we were in public. So, maybe you should start from the beginning."
I closed my eyes, trying my best to trace the events of the past few days. The pain sharpened.
"Well, it started after you dropped me off," I said, glancing at Ethan. "The next day. It all started out so nice. Luc was being good. He put off work, made me breakfast, bought me a SIM for my new phone..." I shook my head, my eyes already stinging with tears. It felt like there was an empty pit opened up inside me, threatening to swallow me up like black hole. "I should've known."
"Known what?" Ethan prodded, his voice soft with concern.
"That it was all too good to be true." I blinked, trying to banish the tears, but a few escaped and slid down my cheeks. "Then, late in the afternoon I-I went downstairs, and I found the whole place covered in that golden script of his. His barrier. Only it wasn't there to keep something out... It was to keep me in."
Both Ethan and Polly's mouths dropped open.
"What the fuck?" Polly whispered in disbelief. "Why?!"
I shrugged. "He didn't really explain himself, but he did say that there was something out there that was a danger to me. He must've been keeping it from me all this time..."
Polly's face tensed. "Are you sure?"
"Sure about what? That he'd been lying to me?"
"Yeah," she countered. "Because whenever he called me, he seemed like he honestly believed that you were okay. He'd been watching your cards and they had always come up clear."
"Well, then something must've changed," I snapped back, "because when he showed me my cards that afternoon, he said the cards told him I was in danger."
They had nothing to say to that. The room settled back into silence as we sat around the table, looking back and forth between each other. Polly's brow was folded in, while Ethan's face was blank and far away. He mouthed something, over and over, but I couldn't make out what.
Then something dawned across his face. His cheeks flared red and his eyes went wide. "Something must have changed," he echoed, finally saying the words aloud. "Oh my god... I fucking knew it!"
"What?" I asked.
"Something did change," he said, his eyes boring into mine. "Do you remember that shockwave? During the séance?" Then his face fell. "No, wait, you wouldn't remember. You had passed out."
"What shockwave?" Polly asked, raising an eyebrow. Something told me that Luc might have left out that particular detail when he relayed the story of the séance to her.
"After Rachel passed out, there was like this boom," Ethan threw his arms wide, mimicking an explosion. "It blew through the room, knocking us all back. Then it was like—snap—everything went back to normal. Tory was released from his trance. Of course, those two said it was nothing, just the 'door' to the other side closing, but I knew there was something more. There was something wrong about it all...."
The séance felt so long ago, but I remembered exactly what Ethan was describing, how wrong it all felt. But, of course, I had trusted Luc when he said it was all okay...
"I bet you your cards changed after that," Ethan continued. "That's why Luc was acting so weird when we basically shoved us out of the house! So, maybe he was telling the truth, and something did change."
"I think you're right," I said, remembering something. "Because before he left, he showed me one of your drawings from the séance. He said he recognized the girl in it..."
"He did?" Ethan said, his eyes going wise. "Who was it?"
It felt like a stone dropped deep into the pit inside. "He said it was one of his ex-girlfriends."
Polly stared for a moment, before rolling her eyes. "Oh god, not another one," she groaned, "Does that dude have a thing for evil chicks? I mean, except for you," she added quickly.
"I don't think she was evil," I said, squeezing my eyes shut. I was trying to remember that night, but the champagne had left gaps in my memory. "I think... I think she wanted to help me."
"You saw her?" Polly gasped.
I nodded. "She appeared to me after he left."
"And you think she wanted to help?" Ethan asked, leaning forward. "Do you think she's the one who..." He pointed vaguely at his chest. Is she the one who possessed you?
"I don't think so," I said. "Sorry, it's all kinda blurry. Once he left, I started drinking and everything went downhill." My face warmed again from the burn of shame. I looked at the wine glass in front of me and pushed it away. Suddenly it didn't seem so appetizing.
Polly scooped up the glass and poured the rest of its contents into her own. "Well, what do you remember?"
"I remember seeing the girl—Luc's ex. She spoke to me. She was nice. Then I remember running... No, being chased. Something was chasing me. Chasing us." In my head, there was a strange dragging noise that sent chills through me... "She tried to help, but she couldn't. Others tried to help, too, but they all..." Only snippets remained in my memory. Shattered glass. The sizzle as people flickered from view. Lots of hands, reaching out for me. And eyes... so many eyes. "And then..." As if I was reliving that small sliver of memory, I could almost feel the tight hold of the wet, water-logged arms, the thick gurgling whisper in my ears. "One of them said she could help me."
Polly straightened in her seat and Ethan scowled.
"Is that when...?" Ethan asked.
"I'm not sure," I said, shaking my head. "But I think so. I think, somehow, I agreed to it, to let them in." I wanted to kick myself. How could I be so stupid?
"That's shady as fuck," Polly hissed. "How is possessing you supposed to help you?"
I shrugged. "Matilda asked the same question." The vivid memory of Matilda pulling me in two played over in my mind, making me shudder.
Ethan winced, too. "Did she get an answer?" he asked in a low voice.
I hadn't really thought about it since it happened, so it kind of shocked me when I realized... "Yeah, she did."
"What did they say?"
"That if they left my body, then I would die." I wondered now what they meant by that. Was it a threat? A warning? Was it like some kind of trip wire—pull them out and I'd crumple into a broken heap? Or were they holding me together?
"Great," Polly sneered, rolling her eyes. "I'm sure they were being super honest."
I shrugged again. She was right—there was no way I could trust what they said. I didn't even know who they were. I reached inside myself, waiting for them—whoever they were—to make themselves known, to respond to the accusations, but they kept quiet.
Polly threw back the rest of her wine. "Well, now what? We know that an exorcism is totally out of the question. So, what do we do?"
We stared between each other. Polly's only magical connection was to her sister—and even that was muddled with unanswered questions. Ethan had powers but chose not to follow that path. And I had simply stumbled into this life, powerless and confused. We weren't exactly a ghost-busting-dream team.
"We're totally out of our depth," I said.
Ethan didn't say anything, but the way he was chewing on his lip made me think he felt the same way.
"We need to find someone to help us," I said. "Someone who knows what they're doing."
"Like who?" Polly said, raising one of her eyebrows. "Luc's fucked off."
I couldn't help but wince at his name.
"Well, I obviously know someone we can ask," Ethan said, leaning back in his chair.
"Tory?" Polly said with a short laugh. "Yeah, that kid is so far up Luc's butt, no way he'll roll over on him for us."
Ethan looked bothered by that comment. I knew that was a point of sensitivity for him. The worst part was I agreed with Polly... Tory's loyalties were to Luc.
"There's only one way to find out," Ethan said, squaring his shoulders. He was trying to look confident but I noticed a small waver in his voice.
He reached into the pocket of his hoodie and pulled out his phone. He thumbed at his screen until a ring echoed through the kitchen. Ethan held his finger to his lips to tell us to be quiet.
After a few more rings, someone picked up.
"Hello?" Tory answered from the other side. He sounded breathless and more than a little annoyed.
"Hey," Ethan replied. "It's me. It's getting late and I'm just wondering when you'll be getting home."
Tory sighed, static catching on his breath. "Well, babe, about that..."
Ethan frowned. "What is it?"
"Luc has me working on this thing and I really can't leave right now. I might not be home tonight. Or tomorrow."
Ethan's frown deepened. "You promised you'd be home tonight. I really need your help with something."
"Babe, I can't. This is really important and I can't just leave in the middle of it. Luc is depending on me."
"I know," Ethan said, his voice shaking now. "But I need you. Seriously. I really need your help."
"Can't it wait? Just a little while?"
Tory's last comment seemed to spark something in Ethan. His eyes flashed. "Tory," he said, his voice hard and cold like ice. "If you can't come now, don't come back at all. You hear me?"
And then, without waiting for a response, Ethan ended the call.
"There," Ethan said, leaning back again. His arms were wrapped around himself. "I guess we'll see where his loyalties truly lie."
🔮
Do you think Tory will come back?