Chapter 13
Devon watched as the ghost stopped in place. It shimmered there for a moment, then slowly backed up.
Tabby stared at Camden. “Gee, why didn’t I think of that?” Her customarily dry humor had returned to her tone.
There was also a sense of relief coming from Tabby.
Devon looked over at her. “Right now we all have to be careful until we fix this. I don’t know why Toby felt this was the house that we needed.
However, I’m afraid there’ll be answers that I won’t like in all of it.
Regardless I really need to know more about this book your mom gave you,” she stated, “because that’s not something we can have you guys playing with, thinking that there are no repercussions to it. ”
Tabby winced. “We didn’t really even think about it. I mean, Mom gave it to us.”
“And did she tell you not to tell me?”
Tabby’s face flushed, and then she nodded. “Yes, she did. So we kept it a secret from you.”
“Great,” she muttered as she turned and glared at the yard full of entities. For the first time she realized that shit was going on here that she not only didn’t know about but was being planned behind her back and had been for a long time.
“Don’t be mad,” Tabby whispered. “She was just trying to help us.”
“In what way?” she barked, turning to her, trying to still the anger, the fear warring inside her.
Tabby shared, “We didn’t want her to die.”
Devon’s heart almost broke at that. “Yeah, I hear you, and I can understand that, but the fact that she also told you not to tell me means that she knew what she was doing wasn’t good, was totally selfish. And that’s got consequences in itself,” she added.
Tabby nodded. “But if we did what we were supposed to do, you couldn’t be mad at us.”
“Right,” Devon quipped. “So, as long as you still attempt to play with these entities and to open doors to a world you do not understand, you didn’t have to tell anybody.
It was just secrets between you three. Secrets that couldn’t be shared with me.
” Devon was pissed, and it was hard for her to find a way past it.
But she knew from the squeeze of Camden’s hand on her shoulder that she needed to take a step back.
She took a deep breath, then looking at Tabby, she was reminded they were just children.
“The fact that you guys have been doing this behind my back and completely selfishly makes me feel disappointed and angry. I will get over that. Do you think there aren’t millions of other people out there who want to save the people they’ve lost?
” She took several deep breaths, watching as several more ghost remnants crept up close to Tabby.
She pointed them out and said, “Right beside you.”
Tabby turned suddenly, saw them, shrieked, and tried to move away from them again.
Camden told her, “Send it away. Be firm with your words and see if you can get it to go away as I did.”
Tabby just shook her head. “No, not me. I don’t want to get close to them.”
“It doesn’t matter if you want to get close to them or not,” Devon replied, her tone sharp. “You brought them into existence, and they are closing in on you now. So we have to deal with them.”
Tabby glared at her and muttered, “You’re just trying to punish me.”
“They listened to you when you called them here, so you need to send them away,” Devon snapped, staring at her.
“We wouldn’t have done it, but Mom told us that we should.”
“What did she say exactly?” Camden asked.
She looked over at him and shrugged. “I don’t remember.”
“Yes, you do,” Devon declared. “I can tell when you’re lying, remember?” She glared at Tabby.
“Yeah, you always could. I never understood that. You’re not even our mom.”
“I know that too,” Devon snapped. “Believe me that you two have made that abundantly clear to me.”
Tabby flushed. “We didn’t mean to make you mad.”
“Right, which is why you kept it a secret from me. What you and Toby have done has caused all kinds of chaos for me and for you two as well,” she pointed out.
“We all must be concerned about it. So, you may not be trying to cause problems, but here we are.” Devon’s tone was barely calm as she was so angry.
Just then, one of the ghosts reached out and touched Tabby on the shoulder, and she collapsed right in front of them.
*
Camden quickly dropped to Tabby’s side and checked her over. He looked back at Devon, who was frozen, her hand over her mouth, staring at him in horror.
“She’s fine,” he told her. He picked up Tabby and carried her inside, laying her down on the couch.
“Fine?” Devon whispered, shaking her head.
“I know that’s probably not the word you expected,” he replied, “but she’s unconscious and appears to have just been knocked out from the energy.”
Devon frowned. “It was a hell of a jolt, wasn’t it?”
“It was,” he confirmed. “Anyway, now we have to figure out how to get rid of all these things.”
“I don’t know that Toby will help us, since he’s probably still intent on communicating with his mother.”
“I’m not sure if he can anyway because this is now way bigger. This isn’t anything to play with,” he repeated, his tone abrupt as he stared at Devon. “We need to put a stop to this … now.”
“I won’t argue with that,” she replied. “I just don’t know how.”
“I’m hoping Stefan will help us, but I’m also concerned because, if Tabby’s been knocked out, then these things are gaining in strength.”
“Some of them,” Devon pointed out, “are coming in a lot stronger than the others. Call your friend. We need help. Otherwise I’m about to call whatever the equivalent of Ghostbusters is,” she snapped in all seriousness.
He looked at her and laughed. “That’s not a bad idea.”
She closed her eyes and groaned.
“And, yes, I’m joking, but let me talk to Stefan and see if he has any suggestions.”
She closed her eyes again and waited, hoping beyond hope that the dull ringing tone that she heard would be answered.
Then a man, his voice sounding sleepy, snarkily greeted Camden, “It would be nice to catch some sleep one day.”
Camden sighed, putting the call on Speakerphone, and agreed, “Yeah, it sure would.”
“What’s up?” Stefan asked, sounding more alert now.
“Remember the woman I told you about, with the entities in her backyard?”
“Yes,” he confirmed, his tone suddenly sharp, and then came an odd silence.
Camden continued. “Yeah, we now have a big problem.”
“Good Lord,” Stefan muttered.
Devon frowned at the phone. It’s not as if Camden had explained anything to him. It seemed Stefan was tapping into their world somehow and seeing it for himself. “Can you … see what’s happening here?” she asked him.
First came silence, then he replied, “Hi, Devon. I’m Stefan, by the way.”
“Hi,” she responded, clearing her throat. “My barely eleven-year-old charges caused all this chaos,” she muttered. “Their mother and my best friend passed away, and the twins have apparently tried desperately to communicate with her.”
“Ah,” Stefan said, his tone softening. “Nothing quite like the loss of a mother to remind everybody that death is final.”
“And yet you won’t convince them of that, not when we have a yard full of these entities,” she shared. “Dozens and dozens of these shimmering entities are on our front lawn right now. Tabby just collapsed after one of them touched her.”
“How?” he asked, his tone suddenly sharp.
Camden gave him a quick rundown. “This entity came up behind her, touched her, and she was out cold on the grass.”
After a moment of silence, Stefan whispered, “Fascinating.”
“No, no,” Devon argued, wanting to scream. “Not fascinating at all. She’s unconscious and has been for several minutes now, and these things are multiplying right before our eyes.”
He barked, “I’ll be back in a minute.” He immediately ended the call.
She stared at Camden. “What does he mean, he’ll be back in a minute?
Who does that? We’re in the midst of a catastrophic event here, with God-only-knows what potential consequences.
And he just says, I’ll be back in a minute?
What is that supposed to mean?” She stared at Camden, her expression one of shock.
Camden grabbed her hand, tugging her close. “Take it easy. He’s likely already here, in a different form, checking out what these entities are.”
She stared at him, nonplussed. “Different form?” she asked in a tiny voice.
“Yes,” he repeated, “in a different form.” She took a slow steady breath, and he added, “When you’re done with that breath, take several more. … I know this isn’t the world you’re used to, but it’s where we are now,” he stated. “And we need to fix this.”
She nodded. “I agree on fixing it. I just don’t know how.” As she glanced around, she frowned. “I need Toby home,” she muttered. “Dear God, I need Toby home. I don’t want him doing more of this.”
Camden eyed her sharply and nodded. “No, we cannot have him running rampant, doing more of this.”
Devon checked over Tabby, still unconscious on the couch but breathing fine. Then she turned back to Camden. “When you said, another form?”
“Yes, another form,” he repeated absentmindedly, as he went to the kitchen and stared out the window. “Stefan has a lot of abilities, and he can do things most people have no idea are even possible. So, when he told us that he would be back, he meant just that, but it will be on his time.”
She just stared at him, then heard a sudden, soft, almost humming sound.
Camden nodded. “I’m pretty sure I can already feel him here.”
She froze. “Is that what I’m feeling? The humming too?”
He turned to her. “Could be.” He let out his breath and pointed to the backyard. “Jesus, the backyard is filling up even more.”
She stared outside, and they were almost wall to wall. “I want to go tell them all to piss off and to just go away.”
But he held her back from leaving, saying, “Me too. However, let’s wait on Stefan. Somehow they managed to get here, and, therefore, it’s unlikely they’ll just disappear. They may not even know how to disappear, and that is something we’ll have to fix.”