Saturday Night Séance

understand and glared at them with his black eyes. "I will find you!" he howled. "All of you! I found you before and I will again!"

  "No, you won't," Rowan and Isabella said coolly. They each started to mutter an incantation while the spirit clawed and screamed at the invisible wall. There was a flash of cold, eerie blue light, an unearthly howl, and then complete silence.

  Leah, Maryann, and Nora finally stood up. Rowan and Isabella fell to their knees. Maryann was kind enough to go to Rowan and the other two attended to their band member. Even in the dense fog, they could see what looked like scorch marks on the parking lot, although there was no trace of the chalk circle.

  "Can-can we go anywhere else to talk about what just happened?" Isabella mumbled.

  "Sure," Maryann said, brightly, helping Rowan stand up.

  Nora took charge of the situation. They went back to the hotel and brewed some hot tea using the coffee pots. Neither blonde said anything until they had a drink and the tea seemed to revive them.

  "So, what happened?" Leah asked.

  "A spirit that can be summoned can be banished," Rowan said.

  "That didn't work with Isabella's great-grandmother," Nora reminded her.

  "No, because I knew that she was a spirit mage and could probably resist that," Isabella said.

  "I didn't use a strong enough spell at that time because I had no idea what kind of spirit I was summoning," Rowan said, adding, "and yes, that was really stupid of me."

  "We figured the only way to get this thing to leave Rowan alone was to summon it properly and then banish it," Isabella said.

  "And you figured this out when and told each other how?" Leah asked.

  They shrugged in unison. "It just made sense to us," they said together. They looked at each other, and the looked at the other three. "This is getting really weird, isn't it?" they asked.

  Nora, Leah, and Maryann slowly nodded.

  "We've had so much experience with spirits I guess we were just thinking alike," Rowan said.

  "And I was afraid if we banished this thing to keep it away from Rowan, it would just latch on to me, or one of you three," Isabella said. "So Rowan and I realized we'd both have to summon it and banish it if necessary. That's why we wanted to be closer to the church. A parking lot isn't exactly hallowed ground, but it's close enough to be helpful."

  "That's why there were scorch marks and the pavement seemed to be burning him?" Leah asked.

  The blondes nodded.

  Isabella continued. "Since sometimes spirits are geniune and maybe he really didn't mean to cause her nightmares..."

  "... so we added a kind of true seeing effect to the circle. Once he stepped out, his illusions were dispelled and we could see what kind of aura he really had," Rowan said.

  "Which of course was what we suspected in the first place. Then we just had to modify the circle so that he couldn't come back and get him back into the circle."

  "Isabella used the fog and the small banishment charms to hold him back..."

  "...while Rowan modified the circle."

  "Then we just had to finish the incantation," they finished together.

  "Did you know he had magical abilities too?" Maryann asked after an awkward pause.

  "We thought it might be a possibility," Rowan answered.

  "We're probably pretty lucky it was foggy and he agreed to be summoned on nearly holy ground or we might have been in a lot more trouble," Isabella said.

  "What was your contingency plan?" Nora snapped.

  "Go to the graveyard. It is proper hallowed ground. He couldn't follow us there," she replied.

  "I mean, if he got free?"

  "He wouldn't be able to," Rowan said. "His summoning was conditional. As soon as Samhain was over, he would have been banished back to the Other Side. But in that case he would still be able to harass me."

  "This was the only permenant solution," Isabella said.

  "Is this permenant? Are you sure he won't be able to find Rowan, or you, or us?"

  The blondes looked at each. "It's the best we can do," they said together.

  "The protection may wear off, but it will take some time," Rowan said.

  "If it does, hopefully by then we can find a better solution," Isabella finished.

  "I hate it when there are loose ends like this," Leah sighed.

  "Well, thanks for you help," Rowan said, finishing her tea. "I really couldn't have done it without you, Isabella."

  "You're welcome. I hope your life gets a little easier," Isabella said.

  Rowan sighed. "You know how it is better than anyone else."

  "If you get in trouble again, let us know and we'll do what we can to help," Maryann said.

  "Thanks for that. Hopefully I won't get into trouble like that again. So if you could please take me to my hotel, I'll get out of your lives again."

  "Rowan, do you have any siblings?" Isabella asked suddenly.

  "Nope."

  "Who taught you your magic?"

  "My grandma. She actually got into the pagan scene back in the 1950s when Wicca was first getting started. I don't think even she believed the magic worked though," Rowan said with a bit of a laugh. "But the spells work for me. She was the only one who didn't tell me I was just imagining things when I told her I heard voices and saw ghosts."

  "You know, I think your doppelgänger theory is insane, right?" Nora asked Leah in a low voice.

  "Yeah," she answered dryly.

  "But this is getting too weird."

  "I thought we'd sailed past 'too weird' a long time ago."

  "Here, Rowan, here's my cell and personal email. You don't have to wait for an emergency if you want to send a message or something," Isabella said.

  Rowan smiled for the first time. "Thanks. By the way, I do like your music. I'm jealous. I can't carry a tune in a bucket." She gamely tried to sing a few verses of one of their songs to demonstrate. Not only was she off-key, but her voice did not have the depth or purity of tone Isabella's did. She blushed a bit. "I think even an autotune wouldn't be much help."

  "That's okay," Maryann said. "I'm sure there's stuff you can do that we can't. Isabella, what's something you're really bad at?"

  "Drawing," she answered promptly. "I have no sense of proportion or color or composition. Why do you think I wear so much white and gray?"

  "That's funny," Rowan replied. "I'm a pretty good artist if I say so myself."

  "Maybe we'll hire you to draw our album covers," Maryann said brightly.

  Rowan smiled again. "Sure. If you get famous, I'd be happy to overcharge you for an album cover design."

  "Great! I'm so glad we're all friends now. I'll take you back to your hotel."

  "Thanks again."

  And so the long All Hallows' Eve ended and All Saint's Day was looking pretty bright.

  The Lyrics:

  I don't know how they find me

  Drawn like moths to a flame

  A bridge between life and death

  Is a macabre claim to fame.

  From beyond the grave

  They come to talk to me

  To tell me their tales of woe

  Why can't they just let me be?

  Refrain: Listening to the dead all day

  Is nothing but hours of tedium

  Having such a magical gift

  Makes me an unhappy medium.

  I listen to stories of lost loves

  And other matters of the heart

  Why do you come and bother me?

  You should finish what you start.

  I really am quite sorry

  You just can't make it through

  But why tell me about it

  What do you think I can do?

  Refrain:

  You want me to help you

  Finish what isn't quite done

  Take a number and get in line

  You're not the only one.

  I've only got so much time

  To tr
y to end your strife

  Pardon the expression

  But I do have a life!

  Refrain x2:

  Track 3 - Always Less

  The Interview:

  Nico: Your band is also known for playing in a variety of genres, and it sounds like this album is no different. This track is, well, progressive metal. Why?

  Anna: That's the sound this song needed.

  Jana: What does that mean?

  Lenore: Like most musicians, sometimes we write music before we have lyrics, and sometimes we write lyrics before we have music. In those cases, we have to kind of sound out the music. We try out a few hooks to see what takes.

  Lee: We're fishing for a melody.

  Nico: Haha. Okay, so the inspiration here seems to be a bad relationship.

  Jana: So, who was the inspiration?

  Belle: We get asked this all the time when we have a song that's in first person. Just because the lyrics use the word "I" doesn't mean it's about any of us.

  Anna: We pay attention to stuff, you know. People get in bad relationships all the time. So this is about a person who was treated badly and is angry about.

  Lenore: Which is why we settled on prog metal for the tune.

  Lee: I mean, I guess we could have gone with death metal, but I don't want to do that much screaming.

  Nico: [laughs] That makes sense. You don't want to wreck your voices.

  Anna: Nope, we don't. It'd be hard to make more music if we did.

  Jana: You could switch genres again to something that doesn't require vocals.

  Lee: That's an interesting idea for our next album. Belle, make a note of that.

  Belle: Will do.

  Nico: Glad we could help.

  The Story:

  The band Nevermore and the Ravens pulled into a hotel driveway in town a little after eleven at night.

  "I can't wait for the day when Mr. Rafel doesn't book us these gigs that are so far out in the middle of nowhere," Nora said as they untangled their luggage from their equipment. The December air was chilly and damp.

  "Oh, it's not so bad," Maryann