18. Aster
Chapter 18
Aster
“ I do. From something like Chester though? Hmm, let me think.”
“He managed to lock the house spirits in the attic, so he’s learning how to use his strength and abilities.”
“But he hasn’t hurt you?”
“No.” I glance at Hudson. “He’s trying, of course, but Hudson has a lot in his corner.”
“Gah, this is so stressful. One sec. Lemme grab my grimoire.”
“Sure.” I have no idea what a grimoire is, but she does and that’s good enough for me.
I listen to the sound of shuffling papers and muffled voices while Hudson paces behind me and Otto sits on the couch, gazing at me and wagging his tail happily. At least he’s in a good mood.
“Okay.” Jocelyn returns to the phone. “I’ll text you the instructions. Follow them step by step and it should work.”
“I don’t need any special skills?”
“No. Just believe in it. Believe it will work and it will.”
“Got it. Thanks, Jocelyn.”
“No problem. We’ll be down there in a few hours, less than a ten-minute drive away.”
“That’s great. Hudson will appreciate that.”
“Hey, before you go. You can really visit the underworld?”
“I can, yeah. I’ll tell you about it sometime.”
“Cool.” She blows out a breath. “Be careful, Aster.”
“I will. Promise.”
I end the call and turn to Hudson. “Jocelyn is sending me a list of items we need. At least we know there’s plenty of places in Salem to find the stuff.”
Hudson chuckles, even though I can tell he’s uneasy. “Why do you think he’s being quiet right now?”
“Crash thinks he’s weakened after every incident, and he probably expended a lot of energy holding the other spirits back. We should take advantage of that because once he’s at full strength, he won’t need as much recharging.”
Hudson’s phone buzzes with a text from his sister. I look over the list of things.
“Is that the stuff we need?” Hudson asks.
“Yep. I guess we should head over to Essex.” It buzzes a second time with a list of stores she recommends. Smiling, I show Hudson the screen. “She gave us places to go.”
“Awesome.”
After handing Hudson his phone, I scoop Otto up and look around just as Crash appears.
“The Horror is in the kitchen again.”
“Okay, thanks. Hopefully he stays there until I can get back with this stuff.”
When I look over at Hudson, he’s staring open-mouthed.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
He points to Crash next to me. “I can see him. Completely.”
Crash waves. “Hey.”
“Whoa.” Hudson moves to stand next to me. “He looks real.”
“I am real,” Crash says.
“I mean… uh…”
Crash cackles. “I know, dude. I’m just teasing you. It’s cool you can see me. Not many of the living can. Must be because of Aster.”
“Don’t be afraid of him.” I rub my hand down Hudson’s back, noticing how he leans into my touch. “He won’t hurt you.”
“I know. I’m not afraid, just…” He turns to look at me. He’s so close his breath warms my lips. “I’m in awe.”
“It’s definitely an experience.”
We stand, simply holding each other’s gaze for a few heavy moments until Crash pops his face between us.
“Guys, there’s a Horror in the kitchen.”
I clear my throat, stepping back. “Right. We’re going out to get supplies. We’ll be back soon.”
“I’ll be here.”
Hudson nods, stepping back as well and heading for the front door with me and Otto right behind him. We need to get these items and set up the spell to at least keep the Horror from messing with the other spirits and Crash. Maybe if I believe hard enough, the spell will add an extra layer of protection between the Horror and Hudson. At this point, I’ll try anything.
It’s a short drive to the part of Essex street where there’s a plethora of shops specializing in witchy items. I never thought I’d be one of the customers looking for these things. I chalked it up long ago as something that just made people feel like they were doing something, but now I’m not so sure. Maybe witchcraft is as real as I am. Jocelyn seems to know things other people don’t, and that’s good enough for me to believe.
We manage to find a parking spot near the main drag of shops and walk down a couple of blocks. Hudson points to a black building with lavender trim. It looks like someone’s house.
“This is the oldest witch shop in Salem,” he says. “It’s changed owners and names over the years, but it’s been open since the seventies, I think.”
“Wow. I guess that’s a good place to start then?”
“Definitely.”
We walk together down the sidewalk and to the store. “Have you ever been down here in October?”
Hudson chuckles. “Only once. Won’t make that mistake again.”
“Same. It’s nuts.”
“If it was October, we could’ve walked here sooner than find a parking space this close to Essex.”
“True.”
After we climb the three steps to enter the store, I pause inside, overwhelmed by the sheer amount of things. We’re definitely gonna need some help.
“Can I help you?” A tall, lanky man glances up from behind the counter. He’s wearing a beanie and big round glasses and has a large silver septum piercing. Definitely not the stereotypical witch.
“Yes, please. I have a list of a few things I need.”
“Let me see.”
I turn to Hudson. “It’s in your text from Jocelyn.”
He nods, pulling his phone from his back pocket and showing the text to the guy while I hold a squirrely Otto. He wants to get down and explore. I glance at all the shelves filled with crystals, candles, books, and herbs.
“Ooh, this looks like a doozy,” the worker says. “Heck of a protection spell. Whatcha got on your hands?”
“A poltergeist,” I say. Kind of. Much easier than trying to explain what’s really going on.
“Yikes. Just you two are handling it?”
“Aster knows what he’s doing,” Hudson says with much more confidence than I’ve earned. “This is just a spell to weaken its effects on other entities in the house.”
“You have other entities in your house?”
“A lot of them, apparently.” He turns to me. “Right, Aster?”
I nod. “Benign though. They’ve been there a long time. The poltergeist is hostile.”
“As they are.” He holds one finger up. “Hold on.” We watch as he runs to the back of the store.
“What do you think he’s doing?” Hudson asks.
“No clue.”
Hudson scratches Otto’s head while we wait. The guy returns a minute later, holding up a small velvet bag.
“Here.” He hands it to me. “I couldn’t tell you what’s in it, but I was told to remember it if someone ever came in looking for a strong protection spell. My instinct poked me that you needed it.”
“Thanks.” I peer inside, pulling back slightly at the pungent smell. It’s a dark purple powder. “What do I do with it?”
“Just add it to your spell. Follow your instinct for how much.”
“Great. What do we owe you?”
“Let’s get you rung up.”
A few minutes later, we leave with a bag of things I’d never heard of before today.
“Did you have any idea you’d be doing some witchcraft when you were assigned to help me?”
I chuckle, clicking the key fob to unlock the car doors. “Nope, but one thing that’s really cool is my… supervisor told me I would instinctively figure out the right path. It feels good that you led us to that store and the clerk had this special item.”
Hudson smiles before ducking to slide into the passenger seat. I secure Otto in his car seat then sit in front, starting the car and exhaling before backing out of my parking space to return to the house.
Just as we turn onto Hudson’s street, Crash pops into the back seat, startling me. Apparently Hudson can still see him, because he gasps and puts his hand over his heart.
“Jesus, dude. Do you get used to that?”
“Hard to say,” I answer.
“Sorry.” Crash scrunches his nose. “A little heads-up, boys. One of the house spirits said your Horror is losing his shit about not having Hudson to himself. He’s coming after you, Aster.”
I nod, focusing on the road but gripping the steering wheel tighter. “Good to know.”
Minutes later, we arrive at the seemingly quiet house. It looks so peaceful from the outside. No one would ever guess the chaos on the other side of the door.
Hudson reaches over and squeezes my hand. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” I offer a smile I don’t quite feel. “Do me a favor though. If you ever feel like it’s speaking to you, don’t answer it.”
“It? You mean Chester?”
I shake my head. “Don’t think of it like that anymore. If you can, try to disconnect them in your mind.”
Hudson’s face hardens. “No way. I’m not letting that bastard off the hook for what he’s done just because he’s dead now.”
I nod. “I get it. I was told it would help me deal with it by not thinking of him as a person anymore, but our experiences are different.”
“I think about it a lot, you know. What happened in his life that made him such a miserable person.” Hudson glances out the window at the house. “But I think I’ve decided I don’t care. It doesn’t matter what made him like that. It doesn’t matter why he’s tormenting me now. All that matters is that he is.”
“That’s the best way to look at it. We’ll get rid of him though. I promise.”
Hudson turns to me with a soft smile on his face. “I believe you. I haven’t believed anyone in a long time.”
I want to fix this for him. I know I have to, but I also want to, if only to see more of his smiles.
“Ready to go in and deal with this?”
Hudson exhales slowly. “Ready.”
Me, Hudson, and Otto enter the house through the side door, which was a mistake since it opens into the kitchen, where the Horror is currently causing a tornado of dishes and utensils. I spot him in the corner of the ceiling, crouched down and glaring. His facial features are screwed up like he’s in pain, and the way his form slumps forward, flickering and twitching, I somehow understand that he’s expending a great deal of energy.
Hudson moves closer to me, squeezing my arm while Otto growls in the Horror’s direction.
“Can you see it now?” I ask.
“An outline,” Hudson says, his voice shaking. “It looks like him, but it also doesn’t? What do you see?”
“I see him completely, but it comes with the job.”
“It’s not fully manifested yet,” Crash explains from behind us. “But it’s getting there.”
“Let’s sneak into the living room while it’s concentrating on something else.”
Hudson nods, and we manage to move through the kitchen without incident. I get to work on the spell, using the directions on Hudson’s phone to mix the ingredients together. I take the velvet bag the clerk at the store gave us and add an amount that seems right. The powder crackles and flickers of light rise from the bowl.
“Whoa,” Hudson whispers.
I look up to see the house spirits crowded on the stairs. One of them, a woman dressed in what looks like sixties clothing, nods and smiles.
Well done.
I nod back, rising to my feet. “Stand next to me, Hudson. Keep hold of Otto please.”
“Of course.”
I roll the cleansing stick in the oil then dip it into the potion before lighting it. As soon as I do, the air in the room seems to thicken, like an unseen fog has rolled in. The room darkens as if the sun dipped behind the clouds. A shiver of foreboding rolls down my back, and Hudson must be feeling it too as he clings to me.
I bend my head to look at the spell, gasping as the Horror bursts into the room, clearly agitated by whatever is in this potion.
I wave the cleansing stick around the room, aiming it at the Horror, who snarls and growls at me.
“Any malicious energies, spirits, and intentions must leave now.”
The Horror tilts its head, sneering at me but making no attempt to leave.
“Toss some of the potion at it,” Crash says. “The house spirits suggested it.”
I nod, scooping some out and noting how warm it feels before I blow it at the Horror. It shrieks and rears back, so I repeat my command.
“Any malicious energies, spirits, and intentions must leave now!”
I grab the obsidian crystal, waving it in the air.
“Obsidian, assist me with protection, willpower, focus, and strength.”
The Horror continues moaning and shrieking, but I notice how the sound is weakening. Maybe I’m feeling a little confident, but it seems like a good time to try and get his name again.
“Tell me your name, Horror, and end this nightmare for both of us. You’re powerless here. All you’re doing is delaying your inevitable demise. I’m not leaving Hudson.”
That was apparently the wrong thing to say because the front door flies open, slamming against the wall as a wicked wind whips up, sweeping me off my feet and sending me tumbling out the door and straight into the front yard, where I land with a thud. Slightly winded, I scramble back to the door, but I’m unable to open it. My panic grows when I hear Otto yelp and Hudson scream my name.
With all the strength I have I yank the handle and kick the door to no avail, until Crash appears next to me, holding my potion. For once, he actually looks stressed, his brow creased and gaze intense.
“Sprinkle this on the door and say, ‘Malicious energy, go back to the source of your power.’”
I do exactly that, and when the door swings open, I fall forward inside. Hudson throws himself and Otto into my arms. The Horror shrieks as it’s pushed back forcefully into the kitchen.
I hold on to Hudson. “Are you okay? Did it hurt you?”
He shakes his head. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” I pull back to cuddle Otto. “Did he hurt my dog?”
“No, just scared him. Otto is brave and tried to run at him.”
“Okay. Hold on a second.”
I hurry over to the threshold between the kitchen and dining room and sprinkle some of the potion on the floor. Peering through the opening, I spot the weakened Horror cowering in the corner. I blow out a breath. This should keep him at bay for a little while at least.
When I turn around, the house spirits are behind me, and without words or even a noticeable gesture, I sense their pride and happiness with me.
You can relax now.
“For how long?”
Hard to say, but he’s weakened. Your spell worked and it will take him time to recover.
“Thank you.”
I return to the living room to find Hudson and Otto sitting on the couch. Hudson offers a tentative smile.
“It worked. The house feels different and I do too. Like he released me or something.”
“It did work but he’ll come back. For now, we have to be vigilant, but at least we have a little reprieve.”
Hudson nods. “Thank you for being here.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll do everything I can to get rid of him.”
I just hope I can, and soon.