Page 12 of Signs and Wonders

“When did he stop?”

Evan suspected that the spirits had grown restless. Whether they were running out of energy to interact or were troubled by the memory of their killer, Evan had a gut feeling that their time was running out.

The planchette moved sharply enough that it jerked out of Seth’s hand, rapidly moving from one letter to another. “R-U-N.”

“Shit,” Seth muttered as an icy wind guttered the candles. The gray static of the ghosts abruptly vanished, and the shadows from beneath the trees seemed to grow darker.

“Is that a ghost?” Evan asked as his heart pounded.

“I don’t think so. Not sure what it is, but nothing good.”

The rusted chimes clattered and banged like a claxon. A gust howled through the old buildings, banging broken boards, fluttering loose shingles, and driving away the salt line.

Both men wore a collection of protective amulets made of silver, onyx, agate, and specially woven cords imbued with magic. They were a first defense, but not body armor. Evan helped Seth stuff his equipment into the bag and they ran back the way they came.

Evan chanced a look over his shoulder. Shadows closed in over the common area where they had been just moments before, far too quickly to be a trick of the light. He didn’t know what the darkness was, but primal instinct screamed in his hindbrain that to be caught by it would be very, very bad.

He stumbled over a tree root and pitched forward. Seth grabbed his wrist in a vise grip and pulled him along, never breaking stride.

Plunging through the archway sent a frisson of energy through Evan, tingling along every nerve. The forest felt different, without the wind or ominous air pressure. Seth turned on his heel to face the campgrounds.

“Spirit of darkness, depart! You have no welcome here. Be gone, and trouble this place no more,” Seth commanded, drawing on his ability to banish ghosts as well as call them.

His minor magic wasn’t full mediumship like what Travis could do. This time, Evan feared Seth’s skill wouldn’t be a match for the evil spirit.

On this side of the arch, Evan heard the distant song of birds and saw shafts of sunlight through the branches overhead.

Beyond the arch, a billowing shadow obscured the cabins and bell tower. A sharp crack like a breaking branch cut through the stillness. Seth continued his chant, with one hand tightly gripping the blessed silver charms around his neck.

The longer Seth chanted, the wilder the wind grew, like a counterpoint to his words. Seth’s voice rose above it all.

“Go, and do not return!” Seth finished, shouting with authority and triumph.

The shadows screamed and then tore apart, losing color and substance until they drifted away like smoke.

Evan ran to Seth when he looked ready to collapse. “Are you okay? That was pretty impressive.”

Seth nodded and gratefully accepted the bottle of water that Evan dug from the bag. “Yeah. I just might not have much of a voice left. Damn, I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Was that a demon?”

Seth frowned and shook his head. “I don’t think so. We’ll call Travis tonight and run it by him, but binding and controlling a demon takes a lot of energy, especially to guard a place no one comes to. That kind of ongoing drain would be hard to maintain.”

“Then what?” Evan felt breathless as the adrenaline surged through him.

“There are dark entities aside from demons and ghosts,” Seth replied. “And it’s interesting—whatever it was didn’t seem to really trigger until I reached out to the ghosts. So my bet is that if hikers stumbled upon this place and passed through, nothing would happen. But if someone uses magic, however small—”

“You know we’re going to have to get back in there to look for the anchor,” Evan said, although that was the absolute last thing he wanted to do. “And if the boogeyman reacted to a Ouija board, you can bet he’s going to be pissed about us rooting around looking for a magic relic.”

“Let’s see what Travis says and go from there.” Seth picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder but kept his shotgun in hand.

“When we deal with Swain, maybe we can find someone to cleanse the spirit of the land and help the ghosts move on,” Seth suggested. “Let’s get out of here.”

Despite having the heater on in the truck, it took Evan a while before he felt warm. The chill of the old campground seemed to go down to his bones.

They ate lunch at a local Mexican place, delighted to discover excellent homemade tamales, tostadas, and empanadas. Evan couldn’t resist the bottomless chips and salsa, which he washed down with a cold Coke.

“Let’s get a look at Cameron.” Seth named the warlock’s next target. “He works at a casino. Maybe we can get a sense of how well he’ll deal with us trying to save his life.”

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