Saturday Night Séance

look for us?" Maryann asked.

  Rowan rolled her eyes slightly. "Once I actually thought about what happened, it didn't take me very long to figure out Isabella was some kind of spirit mage, or at least had contacts that were spirit mages. When I realized I needed help, I decided to track her down. That took me a little time, but I obviously figured it out. The hardest part was getting myself to a place I knew you would be."

  "We always post updates to our schedule so that shouldn't have been too hard," Maryann said.

  "Yeah, figuring out where you would be wasn't hard. Getting the funds together on my part was hard. The Ren Fair circuit doesn't pay that well."

  "So what is the problem?" Nora asked sharply.

  Rowan sighed. "I got out of the business, but I guess I made myself too well known while I was in the business. I made some enemies, or got someone's attention. Something is coming after me. I'm sure it's some kind of spirit, but I don't know what kind. I can hear it laughing in the wind sometimes. I put up so many wards but I think it still gets to my dreams. I-I did everything I could to banish it, but I'm not strong enough, or I just don't know enough about it to banish it properly. This has been going on for months and I don't know anyone else who does this kind of stuff. That's why I remembered you and why I've been looking for you," she said. "It's Halloween and the Veil is thin. I'm afraid it's going to find me. Can you help me? Will you help me?"

  "Of course we will," Maryann answered immediately. "We're so sorry you're in trouble. Please, tell us everything you can about this spirit that's chasing you."

  "I first noticed that something was wrong about seven or eight months ago. I stopped doing active magic, but I did still keep up wards and protections. I noticed that something was testing my wards but they held up so I didn't think too much of it. That sort of thing has happened before. It wasn't until I came home one day and realized my wards had been broken that I started to get worried. I put them back up and stronger than before, and that held for about a week. The situation continued like this for over a month. I'd set up wards and in about week the thing would break my wards. I started to wonder if whatever it was even needed that much time and it was just messing with me. I started to do more spells to try to figure out what it was and I think that might have made the situation worse, but I wasn't just going to let some thing break into my apartment." She sighed. "When I realized I couldn't keep it out, that's when I started to hear the whispers and have strange dreams."

  "Have you tried any divination or anything?" Maryann asked.

  "I told you, I'm not very good at that, but I did try anyway. I found out the thing was a spirit, but I had already guessed that. Still, I guess it's something to know it's not another person messing with me, or a fairy or something. I'm not even sure if this thing was always a spirit or used to be a living person."

  "What difference would that make?" Leah asked.

  "Motivation," Isabella replied. "If the spirit used to be a person, we may be able to better understand its motivation in going after Rowan."

  "But if it was always a spirit," Rowan continued, "that makes it much harder to guess its motivation. Spirits don't think or feel the way we do and using human behavior as a predictor of their behavior is not always a good idea."

  "Although it may be the best we've got right now," Isabella finished.

  The other three were staring at the two blondes.

  "What?" they asked in unison.

  "Creepy," Leah murmured to Nora.

  Nora nodded slightly.

  "Um, anyway," Maryann said, "so we should try to figure out if this is an undead spirit or a spirit-spirit, right?"

  "That would be a good first step," Rowan agreed.

  "I'll get my cards," she said brightly, and fetched her personalized tarot deck. "I'll just do a really simple spread," she said. "Do you mind if I shuffle?"

  "Go right ahead. I told you, I'm bad with divination."

  Maryann tossed out the first card. "First card, who is this about?" It was an upright Queen of Swords. "In this context, that confirms the subject is Rowan."

  "Is that your card usually?" Rowan asked Isabella.

  "Yeah."

  "Weird," they said in unison.

  "Okay, second card. Is the thing bothering Rowan a proper spirit or a ghost or something?" She tossed down a reversed Death card.

  "Ghost," Rowan and Isabella said in unison again.

  "Okay, this starting to creep me out a little," Leah said to Nora in a low voice.

  "Me too," she agreed.

  "Final card. Why is this ghost haunting Rowan?" She revealed the High Priestess. "Oh, er, hm."

  "Is that good? Is that bad? Is that just confusing?" Leah asked.

  "I'm going to go with bad and confusing," Maryann finally answered. "Um, in some contexts, the Death card can be interpreted as a threatening figure. I think since Rowan's being bothered by this thing and thinks it's malicious, that's a good interpretation. In some contexts, the High Priestess can be the object of desire."

  "You've got a ghost stalker?" Leah asked Rowan.

  "If Maryann's interpretation is correct, yes I do. Ugh."

  "Oh, Isabella's had that happen before," Maryann said.

  "Really?" Rowan asked.

  "Yeah, some ghost thought I looked like his dead wife. I had to get kind of, um, forceful, to convince I really wasn't his reincarnated wife after all."

  "It was really a kind of sad story," Maryann sighed.

  "Okay, so it sounds like you've had some experience with this. How did you get rid of the creepy ghost?" Rowan asked.

  "I didn't have to," Isabella replied. "He was bound to his ancestral home and place of death. I just had to leave. You say this thing has followed you along the Ren Fair circuit, so clearly it's not bound to any particular place."

  "So I can't get away from it," she said. "Which means we'll need to banish back to the Other Side."

  "It would really help if we knew what it really wanted," Isabella said.

  "I know, but I believe it is malicious so I'm not sure I really care. I just want to get it away from me. And with the Veil so thin right now, well, I'm really worried."

  "We understand," Isabella replied. "But I think we're going to have to draw it out before we can banish it."

  "And maybe it's not really malicious," Maryann offered. "Maybe it's just not good at communicating."

  "Not likely," Isabella and Rowan said in unison again.

  At that point even Maryann was starting to feel a little weirded out by how in sync they were.

  "So where do we draw it out?" Rowan asked.

  "A graveyard would probably work pretty well," Isabella offered.

  "Er, I don't know about that. Technically it's a good place but if this thing is dangerous I want some protection," Rowan countered.

  "A graveyard should have some protection if the ground has been hallowed," Isabella said. She was about to say something else, but was interrupted by Leah.

  "We passed a church when we came into town this morning," she said. "It's not too far away, but I'm sure we're not really allowed to sneak into the cemetary at night."

  "Oh, I remember that place. Good stained glass windows," Nora said, "but I don't know if that makes a good candidate for calling up an angry ghost."

  "I think it'll be fine," Isabella replied firmly.

  Rowan looked like she was about to protest but Isabella shook her head slightly, so she closed her mouth.

  "Do you have enough supplies for a banishment spell if it comes to that?"

  "I can make do," Rowan said.

  "I'll get the emergency kit," Leah said, and pulled a heavy duffel bag out of the pile of luggage.

  "Emergency kit? What have got in there that will help us?" she asked, somewhat disdainfully.

  "Baseball bat, crowbar, antique fireplace poker, some antique horseshoes, and some other stuff. You know, odds and ends and things."

  "
You can't hit a ghost in the face with a baseball bat."

  "But you can draw a circle of iron with an antique fireplace poker," Leah retorted. "And I wouldn't hit a ghost in the face with a baseball bat. A Dalek, maybe, if I had Ace's bat."

  Everyone looked confused.

  "Never mind," she sighed. "The point is these things have come in handy so I'm taking it with us."

  "I got my stuff," Maryann said, stuffing some items into her overlarge purse.

  Isabella got a few items together and put them in her purse. "Alright. Rowan, are you sure about this?"

  "I'll have to confront it sometime," she replied. "It's clearly not going to leave me alone. I'm glad to have some help for this kind of confrontation. I never had help before."

  They loaded up into the van and headed to the church Leah and Nora identified. Rowan sat in Maryann's usual spot and Maryann moved to the middle of the backseat. Fog rolled in as they drove.

  "Are we really doing this? Are we really going to a graveyard, close to midnight, on Halloween, to get the attention of something mean and nasty and possibly dangerous?" Leah asked.

  "It looks that way," Nora answered dryly.

  "Yeah, I was just checking. All we need now is some ominious horror movie music." She dug around in her purse. "Sugar skull anyone?"

  "That's just weird," Rowan said. "Also, it's Samhain, not Halloween."

  "Also, it's All Hallow's Eve, not Halloween," Leah snapped back.

  "How come you put up with that?" Rowan asked Maryann in a low voice.

  Maryann frowned. "Because I don't own holidays," she replied.

  Rowan got the hint and didn't ask any more questions or make any more comments.

  Isabella parked the van a few blocks away from the church and