Ghost of a Chance

  Down, once again, lower and lower until I felt myself drifting, felt my mind floating. I hovered gently on the edge of consciousness, losing the veneer of panic and fear that had built up over the past few days. I took another deep breath and slowly exhaled, listening as the air whistled through my teeth, taking the last remnants of worry with it. Everything felt calm—I had reached a level of stillness that always awed me, always reminded me that the world was so much bigger than we could see with our eyes.

  I reached out, searching for something to tell me I was on the right track, that Mr. B & U had made this room his home base, but nothing seemed out of place. Had I made a mistake? But then, faintly—on the very fringe of earshot—I could hear some sort of drumming, a steady pounding. At first I thought it might be my heartbeat, but when I checked, I realized my pulse was tripping along faster than the drumbeat. No, this was the cadence of some other entity.

  And then I saw it. A brief glimpse, a quick glance. Dark and shadowy, something that was hiding under the bed, unable or unwilling to come out. Startled, I pulled away and with a jolt shot out of my trance. I blew out the candle, snuffed the incense, and leaned down, shaking as I moved Kip's quilt. There, just out of reach, rested some sort of bottle filled with dirt, and I could feel a glimmer of energy from it. So, Kip had been playing at magic again without my permission. I would whip his butt for this.

  With a glance toward the door to make sure there wasn't anything coming through, I reached under the bed with the dagger, using it to maneuver the bottle out to where I could get ahold of it.

  It was a witch's bottle, all right, but not a thread bottle. Thread bottles were filled with snips and clips of leftover thread from sewing. I'd taught Kip how to make one, how to charm the threads within so they captured and confused negative spirits within the chaos of tangled pieces. But this bottle was one I'd never seen before, packed with dirt, and a few pieces of garlic and other herbs. So Kip had been in my stash, had he? As I moved the jar, I thought I saw something else inside—one of Nanna's charms!

  "Oh, you are in for it now." I grabbed the bottle and stomped into my room, where I cleared off the top of my desk. Nanna's silver ouroboros, a snake with its tail in its mouth, was clearly visible, stuck in the dirt to one side. The top was sealed with melted wax and I hesitated, not willing to break the seal just yet. If there was something attached to the charm, it might be freed to cause more damage if the jar was opened and the spell broken.

  "Damn it!" I had told him time and again to leave the trunk alone unless I was there to supervise, and what did he do? Steal Nanna's talismans and proceed to disobey every rule I had set for him. That was it—Kip would be leaving the magic to me until I decided he had bailed himself out of this mess. As I turned the bottle over and over in my hands, a shiver raced through my arm. I heard a faint laughter, and something inside told me that whatever this was for, creating it had been a horrible mistake. How, I didn't know, but I was all too sure that we would find out.

  When I called Murray to tell her what I'd found, she suggested we have a little talk with Kipling. The exorcism was on hold until I knew what I was dealing with. "I'll be over in a few minutes." I packed up the bottle, Nanna's journal and trunk and anything else I thought we might need and headed over to Murray's. My hands were shaking as I grasped the steering wheel, and I knew that we were in more danger than I had believed possible.

  * * * *

  Murray scrunched her forehead as she eyed the bottle. The kids didn't know I was there yet, and I didn't want them to until we had a chance to talk. "You know, I've been thinking. Ghosts don't invade a witch's house in such a thorough and frightening way without help," she said. "Have you been doing any sort of magic lately, other than the warding and general cleansing?"

  I thought back over the past month and shook my head. "Nope… nothing. Earlier this autumn I made a wishing-bone charm for a prosperous Christmas season at the shop, but that's it. I should have been able to feel the wards ripping if something tore through my protection."

  "Then maybe this is the key." She called Kip and Randa into the room. After a round of tight hugs, I motioned for the kids to sit down and, once they were comfortable, held up the bottle. "Recognize this?" I asked Kip.

  He paled, pulling back so fast that he almost knocked his chair over. I set the bottle down in front of him and he pressed his lips together and hung his head. I could hear him breathing, too quick and too loud. My son was terribly afraid of something.

  "Kip," Murray said, giving him a contemplative look, "your mom and I were talking about the ghosts. We were thinking that maybe somebody tried to do some sort of spell and it backfired. I wonder if that might have happened?" She flashed me a warning smile to keep quiet and let her talk. "Do you think you can help us? Do you think somebody might have tried to cast a spell that backfired? Maybe it was somebody who realizes now that he made a mistake? What do you think?"

  His bottom lip began to quiver. "Maybe… maybe I know somebody like that." Eyes tearing up, he bit his lip.

  Murray tipped his chin up so he was looking into her eyes. "Kipling, this is serious—we aren't dealing with very nice entities here, and there are dangers that you can't take care of on your own. Did you try to open some sort of gateway?"

  He attempted to speak, but his teeth were chattering so hard we could barely understand him. "I—I'm sorry. I didn't mean to! Honest, I didn't mean to hurt anybody." He broke into loud tears. I'd never seen him so upset before—even when his father left, he managed to retain some sense of composure, but now he was falling apart. I started to reach out but stopped when Murray shook her head at me.

  After a moment, she lightly touched him on the arm; her fingers barely brushed his sleeve. He began to quiet down. She handed him a paper napkin and he coughed into it, then blew his nose loudly. It was obvious that he was afraid to tell me what happened. How bad could it be? I wondered. Then I stopped myself: Mr. B & U was bad news, big bad news.

  "Kip, you have to tell us exactly what you did. Don't leave anything out. We might get mad, but we still love you. Your mother loves you and you know I adore you, even when you make mistakes."

  I reached out and took his hand, clutching the still-so-small fingers inside my own. He was trembling, but I could feel him start to calm down. "Honey, she's right. Whatever you did, we'll deal with it, but you have to tell us. We can't do anything if we don't know what we're facing."

  Kip took a deep breath. "Well, a couple of weeks ago, when Sly stayed overnight… remember?"

  I remembered, all right. Sly had wolfed down two huge servings of stew and bread, and I wondered what they were feeding the scrawny runt at home.

  "I was telling Sly about Nanna. He said that spells have to be like on the movies—like that old show Bewitched, and like Charmed. We got in an argument and I told him I'd show him real magic. So… so… I got out Nanna's book and a charm and we cast a spell after you went to sleep." He ventured a look up at me.

  I sat very still, remembering his admission that he'd been in the trunk. If I'd only insisted on him telling me the whole story that day, we might have saved a lot of time and worry. Torn between wanting to kill him and wanting to snatch him up and protect him, I could only wonder what the hell we were going to do now.

  "What did you do?" Murray sounded like she'd swallowed a frog.

  Kip frowned. His lip was so chapped that it was going to be a mess in a few days when the skin started peeling. "I-I-I tried to call Nanna in to visit."

  "Nanna!" I shot up like a bolt. "You tried to summon a spirit? You know better than that!"

  Murray sighed. She knew, as did I, that invoking entities was work best left to advanced practitioners, never beginners. I thought I'd taught Kip this lesson, but obviously my influence wasn't as strong as Sly's. "What spell did you use? Do you remember what you said?" If Kip had said something in such a way that it could be misunderstood, or twisted by some force stronger than he was, then all hell could break loose, and obviously
it had.

  Kip stuttered a little while I sent Miranda off to carry in Nanna's trunk from the car. He watched as I flipped through the pages of her journal, then jumped when I came to a page with a long incantation written on it, in a mixture of English and German. The spell was titled "Summoning Spirits."

  As I scanned through the words, a lump began to form in my stomach. "This is a charm for summoning the ghost of a person who has been murdered, and it calls on the astral forces for vengeance!" I set the book down, unable to continue. "Why on earth did you use this for summoning Nanna? She wasn't murdered, she died of a heart attack."

  "I didn't know. The title says it's for summoning spirits. I didn't know it meant ones who'd been killed!"

  He was right. The parts in German gave the specifics but Kip didn't know German. He wouldn't have known that the spell wasn't a general summoning charm, and if he mangled a couple of the German phrases he would have been calling for the astral forces to attack our home rather than avenge the murder. I finished reading the pages and then closed the book. "That explains a lot. What talisman did you use? It says to use the Celtic cross encircled by an ouroboros, but that's inside this bottle, and I don't see any mention of making a witch's bottle in the instructions."

  His cheeks reddened. "The next night I got scared and made the bottle. I put the charm in there, hoping to tangle up anything that showed up. Since I didn't have time to save thread pieces, I used some dirt, thinking that maybe it would bury the spirit again. I guess it didn't work."

  "Damn! Damn it, damn, damn, damn." Whatever he'd done, we were seeing the ripple effect as the spell backfired all over the place. "You screwed up, big time. We're in trouble here.. I hope you realize how much havoc you've managed to cause."

  He hung his head, weeping silently. I had tried to drum into his head the same cautions Nanna had taught me.

  Obviously it hadn't worked. He was either too young or too reckless to handle the energy.

  Kip slowly met my gaze. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

  Murray was reading the invocation. "This is a nightmare. You used this to invite your Nanna?" He nodded. "Em, I don't speak German and obviously Kip doesn't either. Tell us what the words mean—and Kip, you better listen so you can learn what you conjured up."

  I took the book and struggled to translate. "Let's see… here it says… the gateway is open, enter you unsanctified and wandering spirit, avenge our household. If you read it wrong, you probably asked it to exact revenge on our household. Essentially, Kip, you managed to extend an open invitation to any nasty spirits who might have heard you."

  Miranda freaked. She turned to him, shrieking. "You did it! You're the reason that ghost came, and you're the reason why we aren't safe anymore!" Before I could stop her, she jumped up from her chair and landed on Kip, knocking him onto the floor. Startled by the sudden squall, it took me a moment to realize that my sweet, brilliant Miranda was actually straddling her brother, slapping him soundly on the face and chest while she screamed at the top of her lungs.

  Murray was quicker than I was. She leaped in and grabbed Randa by the shoulders, dragging her off even as Randa continued to scream. "You're an idiot! You're an idiot, and if the ghosts kill us, it's all your fault!" The last was uttered in a shout rilled with spit. She sprayed him square on the face, and I didn't know who to feel sorrier for—my terrified daughter or my son who was reeling under the impact of the attack.

  "To your corners!" I shouted as Murray tightened her hold on Randa until she lost her fight-or-flight stance. Meanwhile, I trundled Kip back into his chair and handed him a tissue. I took a deep breath. "Okay, listen to me—both of you. I'm in no mood for this. Murray and I will try to figure out how to undo the damage you've caused, Kipling. Meanwhile, if you two get into another fight I'll have you grounded in your rooms until next Thanksgiving. Understand?"

  They both stared at me, Kip in tears and Miranda fuming. I gave them my look that basically threatened to feed them to the sharks if they so much as said one more word. Kip was the first to test the waters. "Randa? Randa? I didn't mean to do this. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do anything that would hurt you."

  She brushed him off like she would a cobweb. "If you're so sorry, how come you did it in the first place? Why didn't you listen to Mom? Do you think you know more than she does? You think she's stupid?"

  I raised my hand. "Enough. Kip, I know you're sorry, and I know you didn't mean any harm. But you screwed up and now somebody else has to try to clean up your mess. You've put all of us in danger, you know?"

  He hung his head. "I know. What are you going to do?"

  "About the ghosts? Try to get rid of them. Meanwhile, you thought being grounded for getting into Nanna's charm box was bad—well, buster, guess what? Bad just got worse. You're grounded for three months, and you're working at the shop every Saturday until that time is over. No after-school sports, no hanging out with Sly—in fact, that friendship is over except when you're on school grounds. And—no more magic for at least six months. Now get your butt in the other room and get busy on the homework. Those grades better go up since you won't be spending time goofing off."

  He nodded, speechless, and trudged off to the living room. As I watched him go, I almost felt sorry for him. My temper was running full tilt, but I still couldn't help it—he had wanted to prove himself an adult, and the backlash had been far worse than he ever expected. Still, when I thought of the situation we were in because of his stupidity, I wanted to beat his butt raw. I took a deep breath and held it in for a moment, then let it whistle slowly through my teeth.

  Miranda's turn. "Randa, answer me this: How many times have I told both you and Kip that I won't tolerate violence from either one of you, whether it be to a stranger or to someone you know?" Self-defense was one thing; outright aggression wasn't going to wash.

  She started to protest, but I shot her a look that put a stop to any outburst. "A lot of times." Her voice was petulant, but I could tell she knew she was in trouble.

  "You know that I refuse to tolerate thugs in my house." A hard-and-fast rule since they were babies, this was one area where Roy had agreed with me.

  "Yeah, yeah… so what's my punishment?" She stared out of the window, sullen. I could tell she knew she'd been fingered.

  I reached out and grabbed her chin, turning her head back to face me. "Don't you look away when I'm speaking. I'm your mother and you will show me respect. You're spending three months of Saturdays with Kip, down at the shop. Both you and your brother will behave decorously and be very helpful to each other, to Cinnamon, and to me. If I catch you fighting about this again, whether with words or with fists, I'll pack you up and send you off to go stay with your father. He won't put up with any crap, not now that he and his new wife are so happily married."

  She knew I meant business. No copping attitudes while living under my roof. She swallowed. "I'm sorry."

  "Don't tell me—tell Kip. You owe him the apology. I'm your mother, I set the punishments around here. It's not your place to decide what to do to him when he makes a mistake, and that's exactly what you were doing." I knew I was being a real hard-ass, but she had to learn that she didn't set the rules. She fled into the other room, and all we heard were the scribbling of pencils and the turning of pages as she dove into her homework.

  I leaned my elbows on the table and rested my head on them. "Oh, Murray, I think I just lost it. What are we going to do? Mr. B & U pretty much has a license to kill, and he seems bent on using it."

  Murray let out a shuddering sigh. She glanced at the clock—almost time for her to go on shift. "I don't know, Em, but I wouldn't break this bottle right now if I were you. Who knows what might happen if you try to undo Kip's spell that way?"

  I nodded. The holiday season had suddenly become a nightmare, and I wanted only to wake up from it to find everybody safe again.

  Chapter Sixteen

  I was so ready to go to work the next morning, if only to get away from thinking about the ghosts
for a while. While I knew a little more about what we were dealing with, knowing about them and finding a way to get rid of them were two different things. I wasn't sure just how much I trusted my abilities.

  Cinnamon and I were swamped, but my mind kept wandering back to Susan and Diana. Who could have wanted them both dead? And why? And what had Kip managed to unleash on us all? Had his spell attracted Susan as well as inviting Mr. B & U in for a rampage?

  I mulled over the string of events, still shaken and a little off kilter. It was hard to even take pleasure in the new shipment of cut crystal stemware that I always ordered this time of year. I held one of the delicate glasses up to the light, watching as rainbows skittered across the finely polished surface. The stem on the goblet was so fragile that if I held it the wrong way, it would snap. Snap … I flashed back to Diana, lying dead in a pool of blood.

  With a shiver, I pulled myself out of my thoughts and finished the display just in time to take a call from Kip. He sounded subdued, but told me that they were helping Murray finish her Christmas gifts; then Miranda came on the line and bubbled over about how White Deer was teaching her some of the native legends of the stars.

  Murray had some news of her own for me. "I did some digging, Em, since you're so sure Walter was behind Susan's death."

  "And? Don't leave me in suspense."

  She hedged a moment and then said, "This will be public knowledge soon enough; it won't be long before it gets around the grapevine." After another pause, she dove in. "Susan cut Walter out of the will a couple months before she died, and he knew about it. He gets squat."