Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
“You heard that, right?” Nik whispers.
“Yeah.” Rene is clutching Keith’s arm. “The fuck was that?”
“It’s just noise,” Ethan soothes, reminding me of what my mom used to tell me during thunderstorms. “Don’t let it rattle you.”
“Easier said than done,” she says meekly.
“Hey, we’ll keep you safe,” I assure her, trying to shake off the feeling of the dream while at the same time trying to remember everything. “Marissa,” I say as the second name comes to me, almost like it’s been whispered through the room, not spoken to me directly.
“What?” Keith pushes up and looks at Rene. “What about her?”
“She was Allison’s friend. They were close and she…” I close my eyes, trying to open myself up even more to her. “She thinks she should have been more of a big sister. Am I hitting on anything there?” I ask, thoughts feeling all chaotic.
“You hit the fucking nail on the head,” Keith says, too excited to be scared right now. “Allison and Marisa were roommates and they stayed here.”
“In this room,” I go on.
“Yeah.”
“Okay.” I hold up my hand. “Don’t tell me any more.”
“So we’re just going to act like nothing happened?” Rene whispers.
“Yeah,” Ethan tells her. “Ignoring it will piss it off.”
“Are we sure that’s the route we want to go?” She plays with her hair nervously.
“Yep. Then we’ll have some fun.”
Ethan rests his hand on my thigh and I go back to the second bag of popcorn, using magic to make it pop again. The unwelcome feeling gets stronger and stronger.
“It really doesn’t want me here,” I say quietly when the popcorn is done. I dump it into another bowl and pass it to Nik.
“Because you’re a medium?” Keith asks.
“I don’t think it knows that yet.” Letting out a breath, I go back to the movie, acting like I’m enthralled because I know he is watching me. Just like he watched them.
I loop my arm through Ethan’s, working hard to keep the image of him from my dream out of my head. It was put there to disturb me and scare me. The psychological warfare raged by spirits typically starts slow, getting worse and worse over time until you’ve lost sleep, damaged relationships, and are at your breaking point.
And that’s when possession can occur.
Feeling antsy, I pick up my phone and mindlessly scroll through social media. I mostly follow horse rescues, saddle shops, and a handful of hot veterinarians, as well as some local shops and events. The Paradise Valley Parks Department shared a calendar of upcoming summer events, and one in particular catches my attention. The Kickoff to the Summer Solstice event is being held not long from now, but it misses the actual summer solstice by a few weeks. I’m about to scoff at it for getting the dates wrong, but I open the event page and read the actual info.
Hosted by a local spiritualist group, it’s an outdoor party in the park inviting “Wiccans, Pagans, and likeminded individuals to come celebrate nature and make new friends. We’ll discuss ways to celebrate the upcoming Solstice with a chance to join the first ever planning committee”. I wouldn’t find anyone from an actual coven at something like this, but I would have jumped at the opportunity before to go to something like this.
An impressive amount of people have already clicked going on the Facebook event page, and I scroll through the names, seeing if I recognize any of them as members of my coven. I don’t, but Grim Gate is a large coven and there’s no way I’d know everyone.
I put my phone down and bend my knees up so my legs are resting on Ethan. He looks bored and like he might fall asleep, which would be ideal, actually. He’s leaving early tomorrow for “work” but is really going home to take care of the horses and then crash for a few hours in our bed before he actually has to go to work. I thought it was a horrible idea when he suggested it, but he insists he’ll be fine and is used to doing physical activities on little sleep.
The movie ends and I get up to use the bathroom. It’s cold in the house and I shiver, zipping my hoodie all the way up. I pee and then go to the sink to wash my hands, turning the water on warm and giving it a good minute to see if it will actually heat up. The sink above the mirror is scratched up and dirty, and I have a rule about not looking in unfamiliar mirrors at night.
I can’t help but notice something moving behind me, and as hard as I try not to, I cave and look up. A man with graying hair, dark eyes, and a cigarette burning in his mouth is behind me, and I whirl around right as he rushes at me.