Page 51 of Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World
The planchette vibrated strongly under our fingertips and started to move again, this time with such force and speed that I was jerked forward and then sideways in my chair. I tried to break the connection but I couldn’t lift my fingers—it was like they were glued down. Lex’s shoulders tensed as they, too, tried to let go of the planchette.
I-T-S-E-E-S-M-E
“What’s happening?” I demanded hoarsely as the planchette’s violent motion yanked my arms in first one direction, then another.
I-T-K-N-O-W-S
“Something extremely bad,” Lex grunted, straining to pull themself away from the board.
E-S-K-O-M-M-T
“Now she’s babbling incomprehensibly!” I cried.
“It’s German, you idiot,” Lex growled. “She says ‘It is coming.’ ”
E-S-K-O-M-M-T
“What do we do?” I called out desperately. The planchette was now moving so violently that it swung me bodily from side to side.
Lex’s teeth were bared in a pained grimace. “Hang on!”
H-I-L-F-M-I-R
“What does that mean?” I shouted.
“ ‘Help me!’ ”
H-I-L-F-M-I-R-H-I-L-F-M-I-R-H-I-L-F-M-I-R
The two of us were flung back and forth like rag dolls, our harsh breaths the only sound now apart from the soft whisking of the planchette across the board as it continued to spell out one plea after another. Under my fingertips, the wood shook so violently that I was surprised it hadn’t simply disintegrated.
The planchette suddenly stopped in the middle of the board. It no longer vibrated with unnatural strength—now it shivered like a terrified animal. Then it began to move again, making eight quick arcs.
I-T-I-S-H-E-R-E
I was still spelling out that final message in my mind when the board splintered in half with the dull, sickening crack of a snapping femur. The planchette fell apart as well, scattering yellowed fingernails and brittle wisps of black hair. Released from whatever hadbeen holding me, I recoiled from the table so hard that my chair almost went over backward. Opposite me, Lex had their hands lifted into the air as they stared down at the ruined fragments of the board lying between us.
A dank, musty exhalation of cold air breathed across my face like a despairing sigh. At the same moment, the candle flames around us shrank to almost nothing, plunging us into near-darkness. Bolting from my chair, I huddled back against the glass front of a display case. “What the heck just happened?” I demanded in a shaking voice.
Still seated, Lex leaned forward to examine the splintered wreck of the Ouija board, prodding one or two slivers of bone with a finger. “We got our answer,” they murmured. “Or at least,ananswer.”
I stayed where I was, unwilling to go any closer to the table. “It said—” I swallowed. “It said the thing out there is an abomination.”
Lex took one last moment to study what was left of the board before rising to their feet. “Yeah,” they sighed, running both hands along the sides of their mohawk. “And I think she meant a capitalAAbomination.”
“And that is…?” I trailed off questioningly.
Slowly, Lex removed their thick-framed glasses and closed their eyes while pinching the bridge of their nose. “You know what, Colin? I think I’ve had enough of you for one day.”
“Hey,” I protested.
Jamming their glasses back onto their face, Lex fixed me with a gimlet stare. “Thanks to you, I’m swimming in some seriously deep waters now. First you bring in a seal bearing Management’s signature, and now we just watched an Abomination murder the spirit of a dead medium. And on top ofthat, it’s obvious that you aren’t telling me everything. How do you know this thing was inside thebuilding at all?” They scowled. “This is not cool, Colin. In fact, this is seriously fucking bad.”
“I didn’t know—” I started to say before they cut me off.
“Yeah, that’s the problem. Youdon’tknow.” With a curt shake of their head, Lex stabbed a finger at the light switch next to the door, flooding the room with fluorescent illumination. Then they started blowing out candles.
I watched in silent dismay. “Look, I’m sorry,” I finally said. “But I’m trying to fix something that went wrong.”
