out for ice cream when our parents were busy with all the other drama you get at a family event. But he died of an undiagnosed heart condition. Aunt Claire came home and found him dead on the floor. I remember she was devastated. Mom was really worried about her. Aunt Claire was still mourning when I turned thirteen. But she got really into the paranormal in those years and tried a number of psychics and mediums to try to talk to Uncle Jesse. She finally got into therapy for my cousins' sakes, and she's a lot better now. But she might still go see this medium, especially if she thought was for real. Those frauds she saw all those years ago took her money and trampled on her memories, but at least they left Uncle Jesse out of it. I don't know how Aunt Claire would react if Uncle Jesse had some deep dark secret he just blurted out to her. Even if that didn't happen, seeing him again would undo all those years of therapy and I know she'd go back as often as she could.”
“What if your Uncle Jesse told her not to call on him again?”
“I don't know that it would matter. I mean, the medium summons the spirit. I don't know how much choice the spirit has. What would a spirit do if they were summoned week after week to talk to a living relative, even if they just wanted the living person to let go?”
“Well,” Isabella said, “I don't know. I think Crow Jinx has a lot of talent at this, but it's really draining to summon and hold a spirit. That focusing crystal helps, but she's still got to be exhausted at the end of the day. It's even harder to hold a spirit that doesn't want to be held, but it doesn't mean it can't be done. I wouldn't do it unless there was some sort of emergency. The dead that have passed beyond don't generally want to come back to the world of the living.”
“So what do we do about Madame Crow Jinx?” Dave asked. “Con or not, it's low taking money from people like this, even if she actually delivers.”
“I don't know,” Isabella sighed. “Honestly, I think she's on a short path to self-destruction. Like I said, it's hard to summon and hold spirits, especially if they don't want to be held.”
“I don't want to wait for that,” Nora said. “Her reputation is going to spread and I don't want my aunt to hear about this. I don't want her to go through that kind of grief.”
“I'll give my grandmother Ami a call. She taught me spirit magic, so maybe she'll have some insight on this.”
“Thanks, Isabella.”
“So what's it like meeting your goateed twin?” Leah asked.
Again, Dave was the only one that laughed.
“Oh, come on, that's a classic cliché. Ok, if Isabella had an evil doppelganger, that's her - gypsy meets Goth meets stereotypical witch.”
“She's not my evil doppelganger.”
“She totally is,” Dave countered.
“Now that I know what Leah is talking about, I kind of have to agree,” Nora said, glad for a lighter topic.
“She's got your powers and she kind of looks like you,” Maryann said. “It's really weird.”
“I've heard everyone has a doppelganger,” Dave said. “That's like a gag on TV even.”
“Guys, seriously?” Isabella asked.
“Hey, with all the weird stuff you see, why is this so hard to believe?” he replied.
The band nodded in agreement and turned their attention back to some well-earned relaxation.
Isabella did talk to her grandmother later that day and they came up with a plan, which she shared with the band and Dave.
“Wow,” Leah said. “Your grandmother is hardcore.”
“She takes this very seriously,” Isabella said. “Now I just need to get an appointment.” It turned out there was an opening on their last planned day of vacation.
Isabella had stuffed several paper charms in her purse, just in case. Maryann had a few items in her purse for magic, just in case, although she was not well-versed in spirit magic. Leah put a rosary in her purse, which she did not normally carry, and Nora just kept her cross close. Dave wore a shirt with a raven standing on a skull. It had no special significance; he just liked it.
As before, they had to wait a little while, and then were beckoned into the dark, cramped room. As before, Isabella gave the group spirit sight, just in case. Isabella took the chair across from the medium.
“Whom do you wish to contact?” Crow Jinx asked in her affected deep tone.
“My great-grandmother Hana.”
“Place your hands upon the gazing stone,” she said.
Isabella did so.
The medium muttered what seemed to be the same words as the last séance, and neither the band nor Dave could quite catch what they were. Again, the etheric energies gathered and a translucent form took shape. This was a woman with long, flowing dark hair who was wearing some sort of robe-type garment. There was an aura of small, slowly blinking lights that moved around her in a spiral, like fireflies.
“Is this your great-grandmother Hana?” Crow Jinx asked.
“For shame, child!” the ghost said to Crow Jinx. “How dare you perverse your gifts like this! Those who can speak with the dead should not do so for profit, especially at such cost to those still leaving.”
Crow Jinx smiled coldly. “Is this your great-grandmother?”
“Of course that is my great-granddaughter Isabella,” the ghost snapped. “Look at me when I'm talking to you!”
“Don't you want to ask your great-grandmother some questions?” she asked pointedly.
The ghost leaned over the table and touched Crow Jinx's face.
This startled the medium and she waved her hands in the same fashion she had done before to banish the ghost of Dave's grandfather.
But the ghost of Hana did not vanish. “You cannot banish me like that, child,” she snapped. “I am well-versed in the ways of spirit magic, and being dead has only given me more time to learn.”
“I summoned you!” she snapped, finally losing her cool. “You come when I call and you go when I tell you to leave!”
The ghost straightened up and laughed. “You are an ignorant child who knows not what forces she meddles with.”
“In the name of the Goddess, I banish thee!” she shouted, holding up an ankh necklace.
“Perhaps that would work with a lesser spirit, but not me. Now, you and I are going to talk about your business and why you should close it down.”
“Don't you want to talk to your great-granddaughter?” she asked, trying to move away, but that was all but impossible in the small room.
“I should hope by this time it would be obvious if I wish to speak to my great-granddaughter, I could do so at any time,” the ghost replied. “Now, we are going to talk, Ms. Rowan Weber.”
All the color drained from the medium’s face at the mention of her real name.
“That's a way better name than 'Crow Jinx,'” Leah said.
Dave chuckled.
“Now is not the time for quips,” the ghost snapped.
“Sorry ma'am. I'll be quiet now.”
“Thank you. Kindly leave us be. I'm sure Ms. Weber here doesn't want all her guilty secrets blurted out in front of strangers.”
The pale medium looked hopeful as Isabella removed her hands from the focusing crystal, but the spirit remained even though that should have broken the connection to the living world. As the group moved to the door, she called to them. “Hey, wait; don't leave me here with this ghost!”
“Ignorant child,” the ghost of Hana snapped. “I will not hurt you, although do not make the mistake of thinking I can't. Many ghosts and other types of spirits could hurt you, and you are not powerful enough or knowledgeable enough to protect yourself from their attacks. I am going to educate you and you will learn how dangerous it really is to use your talent this way. Isabella, take your friends and leave us.”
Isabella obediently herded the group into the waiting room.
“Um, so what do we do now?” Leah asked.
“We wait and let Great-grandmother Hana talk to her. Hopefully she'll set her straight. I
f not, well, I think my great-grandmother can prevent her from summoning other spirits by magically warding her shop against it. I don't know if Crow Jinx knows enough magic to detect that kind of thing,” Isabella replied.
“Remind me never to make you mad,” Dave said.
“I only get upset about some things,” she replied.
They amused themselves on their portable devices. An old man entered the waiting room.
“You all here for an appointment?” he asked.
“Yes,” Leah lied immediately.
He scowled at the black door. “Should've known,” he said irritably, and left.
After forty-five minutes, the black door opened and Crow Jinx stomped out. “That was a terrible thing to do!” she said to Isabella.
“Excuse me?”
“Argh! You must have known your great-grandmother was a powerful spirit! You didn't act surprised or upset or anything!”
“Evil doppelganger,” Leah muttered as the two women stared each other down.
“Totally,” Dave agreed.
Nora and Maryann nodded their agreement.
“My great-granddaughter is wiser than you are,” the ghost of Hana said, floating out. “You should thank her. By staging this...what would be the word?”
“Intervention?” Maryann suggested.
“Yes. By staging this intervention, my Isabella may have saved your life and your soul. There is nothing about magic that should be trifled with, and that is especially true of any magic that involves beings with willpower. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” she said sullenly.
The ghost turned to Isabella. “I believe this matter is settled. Thank you for bringing